File:The Australian Museum magazine (1921) (20356766641).jpg

Title: The Australian Museum magazine
Identifier: australianmuseum1192123aust (find matches)
Year: 1921 (1920s)
Authors: Australian Museum; Australian Museum
Subjects: Natural history
Publisher: Sydney, Australian Museum
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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186 THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. The Queen of Spinners. By Heber a. Longmax. (Director, Queensland Museum. THE large and handsome spider known as Dicrostichus magnificus, or, to give it a popular name, the Magnificent Spider," may well be called the Queen of Spinners. The body of this spider is cream-coloured above, with darker vermieulations and two pro- minent yellow tubercles, and near the front is a mosaic of fourteen salmon- pink spots. On the head is a dainty little turret, wine-coloured, with an ala- baster base, and this supports two pairs of eyes. I'his spider is not very rare in Bris- bane gardens, but its discoverv is usual-
Text Appearing After Image:
The Magnificent Spider (Dicrostichus magnificus). Natui size. Plioto.—H. Hacker. ly due to the presence of its large cocoons or egg-bags. These may oc- casionally be found on the under side of leaves of large palms. In tlie daytime tlie sjiider hides in a cleverly-woven little retreat, in which it stays with its head turned away from the opening. The cocoons vary from three to four inches in length, and are about an inch in maximum diameter. Each contains an inner cocoon, which hangs centrally in the upper half of the outer envelope; it is white in colour and the texture may be compared to fine ric«-paper. Within there is a quantity of loose silk suri'ound- ing the eggs. From four hundred to six hundred eggs may be present, and as each spider makes on an average six cocoons, about three thou- sand eggs may be laid in a season. Between the outer envelope and the inner co- coon there is a loose packing of silk, which forms a valu- able elastic medium, protect- ing the precious freight of eggs. As a result of pei-sistent watching, my wife and I have repeatedly seen the whole process of cocoon making by these spiders in our garden. The completion of a single cocoon may take from eight o'clock at night until four the next morning. First the spider slowly spins a strong vertical strand by letting herself down from her lines near the retreat. Then a tiny sheet of web is spun out fron^ the end of this strand. After half-an-hour's work this may be seen as a filmy cloud over the spider's back, to which she, ever spinning, adds to the circi;mference. Then

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