American spiders and their spinningworkA natural history of the orbweaving spiders of the United States, with special regard to their industry and habits . ning this spi-der and placed it in myroom was at the time newin his j)Osition, and did notunderstand the importance of ,, , „ observing all theMode of ^- , ? „ Carrying. Particulars ni thehabits of living-creatures sent to the Acad-emy. He therefore failed tomake any notes, but toldme, when questioned, thathe believed the cocoon wasattached to the lower partof the spiders body wlienit arrived. No doubt thisis a correct observation, and we m
American spiders and their spinningworkA natural history of the orbweaving spiders of the United States, with special regard to their industry and habits . ning this spi-der and placed it in myroom was at the time newin his j)Osition, and did notunderstand the importance of ,, , „ observing all theMode of ^- , ? „ Carrying. Particulars ni thehabits of living-creatures sent to the Acad-emy. He therefore failed tomake any notes, but toldme, when questioned, thathe believed the cocoon wasattached to the lower partof the spiders body wlienit arrived. No doubt thisis a correct observation, and we may assume with some degree of certaintythat the large egg sac of the Theraposids is carried by the mother, lashedto the spinnerets at the apex of the abdomen, precisely as in the case ofLycosids, whose well known habit is familiar to every frequenter of ourfields. This cocoon is exhibited in my collection of aranead architecture de-posited in the Philadelphia Academy, and is the only one, as far as Ihave been able to learn, exhibited in any similar institution. A secondspecimen in my possession is similar to this, except that the silken sac is. Fig. 173. Cocoon and eggs of the Tarantula (Mygale).Natural size. See Proceedings Acadetijy Natural Science-s of Philadelphia, 1884, page 138, my note onHow Lvcosa fat>ricates lier round Cocoon. 142 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. of much more delicate tissue, it in-obably liaving been made in confine-ment. Termej^er speaks of cocoons of the Mygalidai of South America( Aranea avicularia ) even greater than the above. Thej are three incheslong by one wide, and are placed in the fissures on trunks of trees. Theycontain tliousands of eggs. Tliis extraordinary size of the cocoon had madethe inhabitants, who do not observe carefully, imagine that thisspider would take the cocoon of the bombice moth, del Guyavo(.Janus, Linn.), and, having destroyed or eaten the chrysalis, would place herown eggs therein, and then artificiallj c
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectspiders, bookyear1890
