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Title
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A Pair of Spiderlings
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Date
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1898
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Creator
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Elizabeth Van Sant
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Rights
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To inquire about usage, please contact Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries. These images are for educational use only. Not all images are available for publication.
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extracted text
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:
A PAIR OF SPIDERLINGS
Early in June of 1898, upon overturning a log in the
woods in search of beetles, there was disclosed the entrance
to a tunnel of Lycosa carolinensis. Sitting in the doorway
was the owner of the promises--a beautiful dark grey spider.
whon I noticed sho was carrying a cocoon I decided to capture
her, for I had long been trying to secure a family of young
lycosids. Taking a pasteboard box in one hand and the cover
dn the other, I carefully closed it upon her and carried her
home, She was there tronsferred to a cage made of a cigar
box with sides and top built of wire screen, fiven a cup of
water and a fly for supper, and put on the "spider table® with
sgoven or eicht others.
The lycosids are commonly known ac tunnel spiders. They
dig holes straight into the ground, varying in length and size
with the different species, building little barricades of
grasses around the top. This tunnel was about three-quarters
ef an inch in diameter, and was unusual for being in the deep
woods and under the edge of a log, instead of in the open
field where we found them more cormonly. The spidey, which
we named Diana, was not the largest of her species, although
she measured about three inches from the tip of her’ front
foot to the tip of her opposite hind foot when standing in a
natural attitude. The cocoon, which she carried fimaly at-
tached to her spinnerets, was about the size of a Lange hazel
nut. She dragged 4 behind her as she walked, but gathered
