Chapter XV (2)

(ii.) The ULOBORINAE include a number of spiders which have been described under several generic names, but are now considered to fall into two genera, _Sybota_ and _Uloborus_. _Sybota_ has only two species, one in the Mediterranean region and one in Chili. There are about sixty species of _Uloborus_, some of which have a wide distribution, while many (_e.g._ _U. republicanus_, of Venezuela) are social. The type species, _U. walckenaerius_, is a very rare spider in England.

(iii.) The MIAGRAMMOPINAE include two genera containing some very interesting forms. The genus _Miagrammopes_, of which twenty species have been described, though the number is probably far greater, is characterised by a very long cylindrical abdomen, and by the apparent possession of only four eyes, in a transverse row. These are really the posterior eyes; and the anterior eyes, or some of them, are present in a very reduced condition. Little is known of the habits of these spiders.

FIG. 212.—_Hyptiotes paradoxus_, ♀.
]

The other genus, _Hyptiotes_, though only boasting three species, possesses a special interest on account of the remarkable snare constructed by the spiders which belong to it. This has already been described in the section upon defective orb-webs (see p. 349).

The type species, _H. paradoxus_, is very rare in England, and though small and inconspicuous, it is certainly one of the most curious members of our Spider fauna.

=Fam. 25. Archeidae.=—This small family includes certain remarkable fossil spiders from Baltic amber, and two rare recent forms, _Archea_ (_Eriauchenus_) _workmani_ from Madagascar, and _Mecysmauchenius segmentatus_ from America. The chelicerae, which are extraordinarily long, are articulated far away from the mouth-parts. The caput is clearly marked off from the thorax, and is much raised. In several other respects these spiders are very distinct from all other members of the order.

=Fam. 26. Mimetidae.=—The Mimetidae form a small group in general appearance recalling the Theridiidae, with which family they were for a long time incorporated. The chief genera are _Ero_, _Mimetus_, and _Gelanor_. _Ero furcata_ (= _thoracica_) is a pretty little spider, not rare among grass in England. The upper side of its very convex abdomen is marked with red, yellow, and black, and bears two little protuberances or humps near the middle. It is only about an eighth of an inch long. Its interesting egg-cocoon has already been alluded to (see p. 358). _E. tuberculata_ has been found on rare occasions in this country. There are about ten other species of _Ero_, all small spiders, and living in temperate regions. The genus _Mimetus_ (in which is merged Blackwall’s _Ctenophora_) includes a number of larger, more strongly-built spiders, living for the most part in tropical countries.

The genus _Gelanor_ (_Galena_) is the American representative of the group, its three species being rather large spiders, inhabiting Central and South America. The males of this genus have remarkably long and slender pedipalpi, much longer than the whole body.

=Fam. 27. Thomisidae.=—The Thomisidae are the Latigrade spiders of Latreille, and the “Crab-spiders” of popular nomenclature. Their legs are extended more or less laterally instead of in the normal fore and aft directions, and their progression is frequently strikingly crab-like. They form a very large group of more than 140 genera, including spiders of every size, and they are to be found in every quarter of the world. Forty-three species are British. Many strange forms are included in this group, and several of the sub-families into which it has been divided contain only one or two genera. The bulk of its members fall into the sub-families THOMISINAE, PHILODROMINAE, and SPARASSINAE.

(i.) The THOMISINAE (MISUMENINAE of Simon’s _Hist. Nat._) include what may be called the more normal members of the family, distributed among more than sixty genera. Six of these genera are represented in the British Isles. Our commonest Crab-spider is probably _Xysticus cristatus_, abundant everywhere in grass and herbage. Young specimens may often be seen upon iron railings in the autumn. Twelve other species of that genus are on the British list. They are of small or moderate size, rarely exceeding a quarter of an inch in length. A closely allied genus is _Oxyptila_, of which we have seven species. The more striking members of this sub-family to be found in England are our single representatives of the genera _Misumena_, _Diaea_, and _Thomisus_. _Misumena vatia_ is a handsome species, the female measuring sometimes more than a third of an inch, and having its large yellow or green abdomen marked, in many specimens, with a pair of bright red bands, which, however, are not always present. The males are much smaller and darker. It is common in some parts of England, especially in the south, where it is to be sought for in bushes and trees.

FIG. 213.—Thomisid spiders. =A=, _Micrommata virescens_, ♀; =B=,
_Xysticus pini_, ♀; =C=, _Philodromus margaritatus_, ♂; =D=,
_Tibellus oblongus_, ♀.
]

_Diaea dorsata_ is one of our prettiest British species, with light green legs and cephalothorax, and a yellow abdomen with a red-brown central marking. It is common in the New Forest and other southern localities. The female attains a quarter of an inch in length.

_Thomisus onustus_, a rare spider among heather, is recognisable by the shape of its abdomen, which is broadest behind and abruptly truncated. When adult the abdomen is a pale yellow, but the young are suffused with a pink hue closely corresponding with that of the heather blossom in which they are frequently found sitting.

(ii.) The PHILODROMINAE have the cephalothorax more rounded in front, and the legs, especially the second pair, usually longer than in the Thomisinae. There are ten genera, of which the most important is _Philodromus_, which numbers about a hundred species. They are active spiders, living upon bushes and trees, and most of them are inhabitants of temperate regions. We have about twelve species in the British Isles. The commonest is _Ph. aureolus_, which is abundant on bushes in most parts of the country. Some species are very prettily marked, and one, _Ph. margaritatus_ (Fig. 213, C) presents a very good example of protective coloration, being almost indistinguishable on the blue-grey lichen on tree trunks, where it lies in wait for insects.

Another important genus, including some fifty species, is _Thanatus_, extending from tropical to arctic regions, but very sparingly represented in England. _Th. striatus_ (= _hirsutus_) occurs occasionally, and one example of the fine species _Th. formicinus_ has been taken in the New Forest. The members of this genus as a rule affect dry and sandy habitats.

The genus _Tibellus_ includes few species, but has a wide distribution. The type species _T. oblongus_ (Fig. 213, D) is found in the temperate regions all over the world, and is common in England. It is a pale straw-coloured spider with a much elongated abdomen. It closely resembles the stems of dry grass in hue, and when alarmed it remains perfectly still with its legs embracing the stem and its abdomen closely applied to it.

(iii.) The SPARASSINAE[321] include most of the large Latigrade forms, and number about forty genera.

_Heteropoda venatoria_ is a cosmopolitan species, and though proper to warm countries, is often introduced here on hothouse plants, and has been known to establish itself in the open air in botanical gardens. Our only indigenous member of this sub-family is _Micrommata virescens_ (Fig. 213, A). This striking spider is found, though rarely, in the south of England. The female is half an inch in length and of a vivid green hue, while the more cylindrical abdomen of the male is yellow with three longitudinal scarlet lines. Other genera are _Sparassus_, _Torania_, and _Delena_.

(iv.) The APHANTOCHILINAE include two curious genera which are exclusively American. The labium is much reduced and the sternum is shortened, terminating between the third pair of legs. The species of _Aphantochilus_ are largish, glossy-black spiders, sometimes spotted with white. Some of them mimic ants of the genus _Cryptocerus_. The other genus is _Bucranium_.

(v.) The STEPHANOPSINAE include about sixteen genera, of which the best known are _Stephanopsis_ and _Regillus_. There are about fifty species of _Stephanopsis_, most of them Australian, while the eight species of _Regillus_ belong to Africa and South Asia.

The mimetic form _Phrynarachne decipiens_ has already been alluded to (see p. 374).

(vi.) The SELENOPINAE consist of a single genus, _Selenops_, of which ten or twelve species are known, some of which are very widely distributed, though confined to hot regions. These spiders, which are all large, are easily recognised by their extremely flat bodies and the peculiar arrangement of their eyes, all eight of them being placed more or less in a single transverse line.

=Fam. 28. Zoropsidae.=—The Zoropsidae are cribellate spiders of large size, with well-developed scopulae on tarsi and metatarsi. The cribellum is divided, and the calamistrum, which is very short, is not well developed. Most are inhabitants of hot regions, where they live under stones or bark. _Zoropsis_ has six species, chiefly inhabitants of North Africa, though representatives occur on the European side of the Mediterranean. _Acanthoctenus_ has two species in South and Central America.

=Fam. 29. Platoridae.=—The Platoridae are Thomisid-like, medium-sized spiders, generally with a uniform yellow or brown coloration. The spinnerets are their most characteristic features. The median pair present a large flat surface studded with two parallel rows of large fusulae, while the anterior pair are situated outside them, and are thus widely separated. There are only three genera, and very few species of this family. _Plator insolens_ is a Chinese species. _Doliomalus_ and _Vectius_ belong to South America.

=Fam. 30. Agelenidae.=—_Sedentary spiders with slight sexual dimorphism; with three tarsal claws and devoid of scopulae._

The Agelenidae spin a more or less extensive web of fine texture, usually accompanied by a tubular retreat. Our commonest cellar spiders belong to this group, which may be divided into three sub-families, CYBAEINAE, AGELENINAE, and HAHNIINAE.

(i.) The CYBAEINAE include some sixteen genera, of which two deserve special mention on account of the peculiar habits of the spiders belonging to them.

_Desis_ is a genus of marine spiders, said to live on coral reefs below high-water mark, and to remain in holes in the rock during high tide, enclosed in cocoons impermeable to the sea-water. At low tide it is stated that they come forth and prey upon small crustaceans. _Argyroneta_ has only one species, _A. aquatica_, spread throughout Europe and North and Central Asia. It is the well-known “Water-spider,” which is so often an object of interest in aquaria.

(ii.) The AGELENINAE also contain sixteen genera, but it is a much larger group, some of the genera being rich in species. They are mostly moderate or large-sized hairy spiders, living in temperate or cold climates. There are about fifty species of _Tegenaria_, seven of which have been recorded as British.

Our commonest Cellar-spider is _T. derhamii_, but the very large long-legged species found in houses in the southern counties of England is _T. parietina_ (= _guyonii_ = _domestica_). There are not many species of _Agelena_, but one, _A. labyrinthica_, is a common object in this country, with its large, close-textured web and accompanying tube spread on grassy banks by the wayside. _Coelotes atropos_ is a formidable-looking spider, found occasionally under stones in England and Wales. Another genus, _Cryphoeca_, has three British representatives.

(iii.) The HAHNIINAE are recognised at once by their spinnerets, which are arranged in a single transverse line, the posterior pair being on the outside, and generally much the longest. _Hahnia_ contains several species of very small spiders, of which four or five are British, usually occurring among moss or herbage. The aberrant form _Nicodamus_ (_Centropelma_), usually placed among the Theridiidae, is removed by Simon to the Agelenidae, forming by itself the sub-family (iv.) NICODAMINAE.

=Fam. 31. Pisauridae.=—The Pisauridae are hairy, long-legged spiders, intermediate, both in structure and in habits, between the Agelenidae and the Lycosidae. Many new genera have recently been added to the group, but many of them only include one or two species.

_Pisaura_ is spread throughout the temperate regions of the Old World, and _P._ (_Ocyale_) _mirabilis_ is common in England, being found abundantly in woods and on commons. It is a striking spider, more than half an inch in length, and its elongate abdomen is marked on either side with a sinuous longitudinal white band.

There are some thirty species of _Dolomedes_ scattered over the temperate regions of the world. _D. fimbriatus_ is a rare species in marshy spots in the south of England, and is one of the largest British spiders. The ground-colour is deep brown, with two longitudinal yellowish stripes both on cephalothorax and abdomen.

The genus _Dolomedes_ is replaced by _Thaumasia_ in South America.

=Fam. 32. Lycosidae.=—These are what are popularly known as “Wolf-spiders.” They are vagabond hunting spiders, spinning no snare, but chasing their prey along the ground, and in the breeding season carrying their egg-bags with them, attached beneath the abdomen. Some of them burrow in the loose earth or sand, but others seem to have nothing in the way of a habitation.

FIG. 214.—Lycosid Spiders. =1=, _Lycosa fabrilis_, ♀; =2=, _Lycosa
picta_, ♀; =3=, _Pardosa amentata_, ♀.
]

The arrangement of the eyes is very characteristic. They are in three rows. The front row consists of four small eyes above the insertion of the chelicerae, and directed forwards. Two comparatively very large eyes form the next row, and occupy the upper angles of the facies, being also directed forwards. The third row consists of two medium-sized eyes placed dorso-laterally on the caput, some distance behind the rest, and looking upwards. The tarsi are three-clawed. The so-called “Tarantula” spiders belong to this group, though the name has been so abused in popular usage, and has passed through so many vicissitudes in scientific nomenclature, that it is difficult to tell what creature is intended by it. In America the Aviculariidae are commonly called Tarantulas.

The two chief genera of this extensive family are _Lycosa_ and _Pardosa_.

The genus _Lycosa_ includes about 400 species. It has been broken up from time to time into various genera (_Trochosa_, _Pirata_, _Tarentula_, etc.), but these glide into each other by imperceptible degrees, and are now discarded. They are large or moderate-sized spiders, found in every part of the world. About twenty species are British, some of them being fine and handsomely marked. One of the prettiest is _Lycosa picta_, common on the sandhills in some localities.

Some exotic species are very large, _Lycosa ingens_, from Madeira, measuring sometimes more than an inch and a half in length.

_Pardosa_ (Fig. 188, p. 341) is not so rich in species, but the individuals of some species are wonderfully numerous. Hundreds of _P. lugubris_, for example, may be seen scampering over the dead leaves of a wood in the autumn. These spiders are generally sombrely coloured and well covered with hair. Perhaps the commonest and most widely spread species in this country is _P. amentata_.

=Fam. 33. Ctenidae.=—The Ctenidae are _Lycosa_-like spiders, having in certain points of structure close affinities with the Pisauridae and the Sparassinae of the Thomisidae. The limits of the family are not well defined, and many arachnologists place in it some of the genera allotted above to the Pisauridae, while others do not consider the group sufficiently marked off to constitute a separate family at all. As here understood they are equivalent to the Cteninae of the Clubionidae in Simon’s _Histoire naturelle_. The eyes are arranged in the _Lycosa_ fashion, but the tarsi have only two terminal claws and well-developed “claw-tufts,” frequently accompanied by a scopula. There are strong, regularly-arranged spines under the tibiae and tarsi.

There are about fifteen genera. _Uliodon_ numbers six species of large hairy spiders in Australia. _Ctenus_ is rich in species, having about sixty, found in all hot countries, but especially in America and Africa. They are also of large size and usually of yellowish coloration, often diversified by a pattern on the abdomen. The fifteen species of _Leptoctenus_ are proper to tropical Asia. Acantheis from South Asia and _Enoplectenus_ from Brazil are more slender, elongate forms, recalling _Tetragnatha_. _Caloctenus_ includes a number of _Pardosa_-like spiders found at a high elevation in South America.

The Ctenidae have the habits of the Lycosidae, and are wandering spiders, some forming a burrow in the ground.

=Fam. 34. Senoculidae.=—The South American genus _Senoculus_ (_Labdacus_) alone constitutes this family. The species are probably numerous, but ten only have been described. They are moderate-sized spiders, spinning no web, but running with astonishing speed over the leaves and stems of plants. The generic name is really inapplicable, as there are eight eyes, but the anterior laterals are much reduced. The abdomen is long, and the legs are long and unequal, the first pair much the longest and the third much the shortest.

=Fam. 35. Oxyopidae.=—The Oxyopidae form a well-marked group, with oval cephalothorax somewhat narrowed in front, and lanceolate abdomen. The eight black eyes have a characteristic arrangement, and the anterior medians are always very small. The legs are long and tapering, and not very unequal, and are furnished with particularly long spines, which give these spiders a very characteristic appearance. There are eight genera, of which the most important are _Pucetia_ and _Oxyopes_.

_Pucetia_ contains a number of rather large spiders, generally bright green, often variegated with red. They affect particular plants. For instance, _P. viridis_, which occurs in Spain, is always found on _Ononis hispanica_. There are about thirty species of this genus distributed over the tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world. _Oxyopes_ numbers many species, certainly more than fifty, and has a similar distribution, but some of its members invade colder regions. They are of rather small size. _O. lineatus_ is a very rare spider in the south of England.

The Oxyopidae are diurnal spiders, running over plants in search of prey, and often leaping, after the fashion of members of the following family.

=Fam. 36. Attidae (Salticidae).=—_Wandering spiders with cephalothorax broad anteriorly, and bearing eight homogeneous eyes in three rows. Four eyes, largely developed, are directed forward; the remaining four eyes are placed dorsally in two rows, the first pair being much reduced in size._

The Attidae or Jumping-spiders form the most extensive family of the whole order, the known species amounting to something like four thousand. It is only of late years that their vast numbers have begun to be realised, for their vagabond habits and great activity enabled them to a great extent to elude the earlier collectors, whose methods were not as thorough as those now in vogue. Their real home is in the tropical regions, temperate fauna being comparatively poor in Attid species. France boasts nearly 150, but only 37 are recorded for the British Isles, and 2 at least of these are recent introductions.

Some of the tropical forms are most brilliantly coloured, glowing with vivid colours and metallic hues, and they have frequently excited the admiration of travellers. The coloration is nearly always due to the hairs and scales with which the spiders are clothed, and is, unfortunately, almost incapable of preservation in the collector’s cabinet.

These spiders are all wanderers, spinning no snares, though they form a sort of silken cell or retreat, in which the female lays her eggs. Their habits are diurnal, and they delight in sunshine. They stalk their prey and leap upon it with wonderful accuracy. They invariably attach a thread at intervals in their course, and on the rare occasions when they miss their aim while hunting on a perpendicular surface, they are saved from a fall by the silken line proceeding from the spot whence the leap was made.

FIG. 215.—Attid Spiders. =A=, _Salticus scenicus_, ♂; =B=, _Marpissa
muscosa_, ♀; =C=, _Synemosyna formica_, ♀; =D=, _Ballus variegatus_,
♀.
]

The movements of these spiders are sufficient to indicate their systematic position without entering upon structural details, but their eyes deserve a special mention. They are all dark-coloured and very unequal in size, and they occupy the whole area of the caput, usually forming a large quadrilateral figure. Four large eyes occupy the facies or “forehead,” the medians being especially large. Next come two very small eyes, behind the anterior laterals, and lastly two of medium size at the posterior corners of the caput.

This vast family does not lend itself easily to division into sub-families, and it will be impossible here to do more than indicate a very few of the multitudinous forms.

The most familiar British example is _Salticus scenicus_ (_Epiblemum scenicum_), the little black and white striped spider to be seen hunting on walls and fences during the summer. _Marpissa muscosa_ is the largest English species, measuring about half an inch. It has a brownish-yellow coloration, and is found, though not commonly, in similar situations. _Attus pubescens_ affects grey stone walls, on which it is nearly invisible except when moving. The other British species are mostly to be found on trees and shrubs or among herbage, or hunting over bare sandy spots in the sunshine. A few (_Marpissa pomatia_, _Hyctia nivoyi_) are fen species. _Hasarius falcatus_ is a handsome spider, common in woods in some localities.

The species differ much in their jumping powers; the Marpissas, for example, are not great leapers, but the little _Attus saltator_, found on sandhills, jumps like a flea, and the North American species _Saitis pulex_ has a suggestive specific name.

Again, in this family there are mimetic forms resembling ants. _Myrmarachne formicaria_ (_Salticus formicarius_) is found very rarely in England, but is not uncommon on the Continent.

_Synageles_ and _Synemosyna_ are allied genera. _Phidippus_ is a genus well represented in America, and _Ph. morsitans_ has already been mentioned (p. 365) in connexion with its poisonous reputation. _Astia_ and _Icius_ have American representatives (see pp. 381, 382), though the type species belongs to the Old World.