oment's examination of their palpi or feelers (Fig. 5) showed that they
were males, though even then I could not believe they had reached their
maturity; for their bodies were only about one fourth of an inch in
length, and weighed only one thirty-second part of a grain, while the
females were from an inch to an inch and a quarter in length, and
weighed from three to four grains. It was as absurd as if a man
weighing one hundred and fifty pounds were joined to a bigger half of
_eighteen thousand pounds' weight_, and I was not fully convinced that
these small spiders were really the males of the _Nephila plumipes_ till
I had witnessed the impregnation of the eggs of the females by them.

[Illustration: Fig. 5. Palpi, or Feelers.]

One morning, in the cell of a large female, I found a cocoon of
beautiful yellow silk containing a rounded mass of eggs. Soon the same
occurred with other females, and there were fifteen cocoons, which would
give about _seven thousand spiders_. Early in October, just one month
after they were laid, the eggs of the first cocoon were broken and
disclosed little spiders with rounded yellow bodies and short legs,
looking about as little like their parents as could be imagined. The
eggs in the other cocoons followed in their order, and now each
contained four or five hundred little spiders closely packed.

For some time they seemed to eat nothing at all; but within a few days
all had shed their skins, and now the abdomen was smaller, while the
_cephalothorax_ and legs were larger and darker; but they showed no
desire to leave their cocoons. Still they grew perceptibly; and
coincident with this was a less pleasing fact: their numbers were
decreasing in the same proportion, and occasionally one was seen eating
another. It was some time before I could reconcile the good temper and
quiet behavior of the parents with this instinctive and habitual
fratricide on the part of their children. But look at it in this way:
here were several hundred active little creatures in a space just large
enough to contain them; presently they were hungry, and as no two could
be of exactly the same size, the smaller and weaker naturally fell a
prey to their larger brethren, or rather sisters, for either very few
males are hatched, or else they are particularly good eating, and a very
small proportion survive the perils of infancy. It is evidently an
established and well-understood thing among them: all seem to be aware
of