. American spiders and their spinning work. A natural history of the orbweaving spiders of the United States, with special regard to their industry and habits. Spiders. GENERAL COCOONING HABITS OF SI'IDEKS. 149. Cocoon of Pucetia aurora, opened to show structure. by her cocoon. The outer covering of the eggs is quite thick, very white, and apparently a little viscid; at least, it is quite adhesive. The exterior tent has something of the same qual- ity. (Fig. 182.) I sometimes find the cocoon of Saltigrades enclosed within the nesting cell and spun up within a rolled leaf, as shown at Fig. 183,
. American spiders and their spinning work. A natural history of the orbweaving spiders of the United States, with special regard to their industry and habits. Spiders. GENERAL COCOONING HABITS OF SI'IDEKS. 149. Cocoon of Pucetia aurora, opened to show structure. by her cocoon. The outer covering of the eggs is quite thick, very white, and apparently a little viscid; at least, it is quite adhesive. The exterior tent has something of the same qual- ity. (Fig. 182.) I sometimes find the cocoon of Saltigrades enclosed within the nesting cell and spun up within a rolled leaf, as shown at Fig. 183, a beau- tiful example of aranead sewing. Fig. 184 shows the leaf opened up, disclos- ing the tubular nest, and again the mass of eggs much enlarged and dis- played against the egg case thrown back, the egg case, of course, being within the cell. One of the most elaborate cocoon nests woven by a Saltigrade spider is that made by Phidi])pus opifex of California.' The examples both of nests and s{)iders in my possession were sent me by Mr. W. G. Wright, of San Bernardino, California. The cocoon nest is externally an egg shaped mass of white spiimingwork, sometimes three inches long by two and a half inches wide, but often less, as in Fig. 185, which is drawn natural size. The outer part consists of a mass of fine silken lines crossing in all directions and lashed to twigs of sage bush, within which it is enclosed. This maze surrounds a sack or cell of thickly woven sheeted silk, irregu- larly oval in shape, two inches long by one inch in width, and also at- tached to the surrounding twigs. At the bottom this cell or tent is pierced by a circular opening which serves the spider as the door of her domicile. Like others of her genus Opifex lives and liibernates within this silken tent. Against an inner side of the tent she spins a lenticular cocoon (of double convex shape), consisting of thick white silk, within which the eggs are placed. When the cocoons sent me reached Pliiladelph
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectspiders, bookyear1889
