Chapter IV: Part 4

$Tegenaria derhamii.$--This is a common species in barns and cellars, and has probably been imported from Europe, where it is even more common. The head is high and wide, as in _T. medicinalis_. The mandibles are less swelled in front and the eyes are closer together than in that species, and cover more than half the width of the head (fig. 229). The cephalothorax is shorter and wider across the hinder half and the abdomen shorter than in _medicinalis_, and the legs are longer and more hairy. The colors are lighter and the hairs of the whole body longer. The female is two-fifths of an inch long. The cephalothorax is pale, with two gray stripes. The abdomen is marked with a series of gray spots, formed of a middle row more or less connected with two side rows; the front of the abdomen often pale, with the markings faint (fig. 228). The legs are long, the first and fourth pairs nearly twice the length of the body. They are marked with faint gray rings at the ends and two in the middle of each joint. The palpi are long and slender in both sexes, and those of the male have the patella and tibia of about the same length and each nearly twice as long as wide. There are no processes on the patella, but two small teeth on the tibia near its end. The tarsus is small and narrow, not as long as the patella and tibia.

The webs are made in all parts of cellars and unswept buildings, sometimes forming a shelf in the corner, not as large or as flat as those of _A. nævia_, but with a similar tube on the most sheltered side (fig. 230) The webs more often spread under beams and floors fastened up by threads at the sides and edges, and, as they gather dust, hang down by its weight and become torn and tangled. Old webs are repaired and extended until they become as thick as cloth with silk and dirt. The tube is generally smaller and less funnel shaped where it enters the web than that of Agalena. The web is not as flat as that of Agalena, curving usually down from the tube and up in front of it, often turning up abruptly at the edge. Sometimes it is fastened up in the middle of the front edge and curves downward each side (fig. 232).

Fig. 231 shows a web of the most common form in the corner of a cellar, with the spider standing at the mouth of the tube, and the remains of egg cocoons hung up at the left. This web was at least a year old, and the front edge had just been extended with clear and transparent silk, while the middle was black with coal dust.

Fig. 232 is another web in the same cellar, with the front edge fastened up to the boards above. It is drawn tightest in the middle and curves down on each side.

$Tegenaria (Cælotes) medicinalis.$--A large gray spider living in the woods, among rocks, in hollow trees, and under loose bark. It is half an inch long, with the legs of the female not much longer (fig. 233). The head is large and wide, and the eyes cover a little more than half its width. It is a little constricted in front of the legs and raised above the thorax as far back as the dorsal groove. The abdomen of the females is large and oval, widest across the hinder half. The spinnerets are small, but plainly two-jointed, and the upper pair longest. The general color is light yellow brown, covered with gray hairs, the cephalothorax browner, and the abdomen grayer, than the legs. The cephalothorax has two indistinct gray stripes. The abdomen is marked with a series of gray spots of irregular shape, smallest toward the front and larger and darker toward the end. The legs are faintly ringed with gray, more distinctly in the young.

The males are as large as the females, with smaller abdomen and longer legs. The palpi have the patella and tibia short, not much longer than wide (fig. 235). The patella has a short process on the outer side near the end. The tibia is of complicated shape, as shown in the figure. The tarsus is twice as long as the tibia and patella together, with a long narrow tip. The palpal organ is large and complicated, with a long fine tube that can be seen from above, where it curves around the base of the tarsus.

The epigynum varies in appearance according to the thickness and color of different parts. The two figures show common varieties (figs. 236, 237). This species and _longitarsus_ are both easily mistaken for _Amaurobius sylvestris_ and _ferox_, which are of the same size and color and live in the same situations. Amaurobius does not have the long upper spinnerets like Tegenaria, the eyes are lower on the front of the head, and there are larger light-colored markings on the front of the abdomen. The young of _Tegenaria medicinalis_ are pale, with light gray markings, and the cephalothorax is marked with spots radiating from the dorsal groove (fig. 234). The web of this spider is not flat like that of Agalena, but curved in various shapes according to the place where it is built. If there is an open level place near the nest, the web spreads across it, but usually curves upward at the edges and is fastened to surrounding stones and weeds. Where the spider lives in the cracks of a wall or rock, the net spreads along the surface of the rock, held away from it a short distance by threads fastened to projecting points on the stone (figs. 239, 240). This species is sometimes mistaken for the longer legged and more hairy _Tegenaria derhamii_ (fig. 228), that makes similar webs in barns and cellars.

$Tegenaria (Cælotes) longitarsus.$--Smaller than _medicinalis_; about two-fifths of an inch in length. The head is very wide, and the mandibles of the female more swelled in front than in _medicinalis_, and the eyes are smaller and cover less than half the width of the head (figs. 244, 245). The cephalothorax is darker colored in front and does not have the two longitudinal stripes seen in _medicinalis_ (fig. 241). The legs are only faintly marked with gray in the middle of the joints. The abdomen is marked with gray, in a series of dark and light spots, as in other species, and of more regular shape than in _medicinalis_. The epigynum is light colored, with a middle bar covered with hair and slightly forked at the hinder end (fig. 242). The male differs in the usual way from the female and has the palpi shorter than _medicinalis_. The tarsus has a projection at the base that covers the tibia. The patella has a short process on the outer side that points directly forward (fig. 243).

$Tegenaria (Cicurina) complicata.$--A small spider, resembling the young of the larger species of Tegenaria, found usually under dead leaves in woods (fig. 246). It is a fifth to a quarter of an inch long, with the longest legs one and one-half times as long as the body. The spines of the third and fourth legs are long and stout, and there are long fine hairs on all the legs and the abdomen. The color is pale yellowish brown, lighter on the abdomen, which has faint gray markings. The sexes are much alike, and both vary in size. The palpi of the males are very large and conspicuous (figs. 248, 249). The patella is short and wide, and the tibia is narrower at the end and wide toward the base, where it has a short process on the outer side. On the under side of the tibia is a long thin appendage of irregular shape that is nearly as long as the tarsus. The tarsus itself is long and narrow, and the palpal organ large and complicated, with a long fine tube that extends from the base along the outer side and back to the hard appendages in the middle. The epigynum (fig. 247) has a small, transverse, oval opening at the hinder end, in front of which the coils of long tubes can be seen through the skin.

In New England Agalenidæ Pl. VII, fig. 2 is the epigynum of this species and not of _Cælotes longitarsus_.

$Hahnia bimaculata.$--The Hahnias resemble Tegenaria, but are much smaller and have the spinnerets extended in a line across the under side of the abdomen (fig. 251). _Hahnia bimaculata_ is about one-eighth of an inch long, with the abdomen large and oval, widest behind, as it is in Cælotes (fig. 250). The cephalothorax is bright orange brown, and the legs and abdomen pale yellowish with gray markings. The legs are ringed with gray, the longer joints having two rings, and the abdomen has a pattern of light yellow and gray spots. The spinnerets are all long and in a nearly straight line, half as long as the width of the abdomen. The outer or upper pair are half as long as the abdomen, and the two joints are nearly of equal length. The tracheal opening is in the middle of the abdomen, nearer the epigynum than the spinnerets. The sternum is as wide as long, widest opposite the second legs. The maxillæ are straight in front and have a slight projection at the outer corners, where there are two or three stiff hairs. In some other species there is a longer process at these corners.

This spider is common in winter under stones and under leaves. In summer it makes webs close to the ground, among short and thin grass and moss.

$Hahnia cinerea.$--About a twelfth of an inch long; much smaller than _bimaculata_ (fig. 251). The color is dark gray, the cephalothorax and legs brownish, and the legs a little lighter at the ends of the joints. The abdomen has a row of angular light spots in the middle. The spinnerets are in not quite as straight a line as in _bimaculata_, the outer pair being a little higher and farther behind the next. The tracheal opening is not as far forward as in _bimaculata_, being nearer the spinnerets than the epigynum. The male palpi have the appendages of patella and tibia longer than in _bimaculata_, and softer and more curved. They are found under stones and leaves.

THE THERIDIDÆ

The Therididæ are the builders of the loose and apparently irregular webs in the upper corners of rooms, in fences and among rocks, and between the leaves and branches of low trees and bushes. They are generally small, soft, and light-colored spiders, with the abdomen large and round and the legs slender and usually without spines. The eyes are all about the same size and in two rows across the front of the head, with the lateral eyes of the two rows near together and often touching each other. The mandibles are weak and without teeth at the end. The maxillæ are pointed at the end and turned inward toward each other. Most of the Therididæ live always in their webs, hanging by their feet, back downward. The webs have in some part a more closely woven place under which the spider stands, sometimes in the middle of the web, sometimes in a corner out of sight. Where the spider's usual standing place is without other shelter, it is often concealed by pieces of leaves or sand carried into the web by the spider, and sometimes made into a tent. The outer part of the web is usually loosely made in large meshes, but is sometimes in a distinct sheet spreading from the nest and held out by threads in all directions. The cocoons are round and soft and hang in the web, several being made in the same season by one spider.

Several of this family, like Spintharus and Euryopis, have the abdomen smaller and flatter than usual and the fourth legs longer, so that they are better fitted for walking. They are found on plants, and little is known about their webs.

THE GENUS THERIDIUM

The Theridiums are small soft-bodied spiders, making large and loose webs without any large flat sheet of silk, but only a slightly closer portion where the spider stands, or a nest or tent connected with the web. _Theridium tepidariorum_ (fig. 258) and _rupicola_ (fig. 261) live in houses or among rocks, making large loose webs, in which the spider often stands without any covering. They have the abdomen high in front and tapering a little toward the spinnerets. _Theridium globosum_ (fig. 262) has the abdomen of the same shape. The other species are all small and have the abdomen round and brightly colored. They live in more open places on plants, where they make nests in which they are partly hidden, and carry their webs over the neighboring leaves and twigs (figs. 253, 254).

$Theridium tepidariorum.$--This is one of the most common house spiders, and is often found in its webs among rocks, but seldom on plants. The females (fig. 258) measure sometimes over a quarter of an inch in length, but may mature much smaller. The legs of the first pair are nearly three times the length of the body. The male (fig. 259) is shorter and has longer legs. The color varies from dirty white to almost black. The cephalothorax is yellow brown, and the legs light yellow, with brown or gray rings at the ends and the middle of the joints. In the males the legs are orange brown, darker at the ends of the joints. The abdomen is high in front and narrows toward the spinnerets. In dark and well-marked specimens the abdomen has, on the hinder part, six transverse black marks curved upward, thicker in the middle, and partly connected by black spots at the ends (fig. 260). These marks are most sharply defined on the hinder edge, where they are bordered by silver white. The upper mark often forms a conspicuous black and white spot in the center of the abdomen. In light individuals all the markings are smaller and less definite.

It makes a large web in the corners of rooms, under furniture, and in the angles of fences and between stones (fig. 255). It usually stands in the most sheltered part of the web, where a part of it is more closely woven than the rest, but not enough so to conceal the spider. It occasionally makes the web in an open place where there is no shelter above, and then it sometimes carries a piece of leaf into the web and hides under it, as is the usual habit with some allied species. The webs of the young are usually more regular in form than those of adults (figs. 256, 257). A male and female often occupy the same web for a long time. The eggs are laid in brownish pear-shaped cocoons, several of which are made in the same season by one spider and hang in the web. This species is found all over the world.

$Theridium rupicola.$--This resembles closely _tepidariorum_ and is easily mistaken for the young of that species. It does not grow larger than an eighth of an inch long. The colors are like _tepidariorum_, usually dark gray with black spots, the back of the abdomen sometimes almost white. The legs are distinctly ringed with light and dark. In the middle of the abdomen is a pointed hump, the front part generally black and the hinder part white (fig. 261).

It lives under stones and among rocks, in webs like those of _tepidariorum_, often containing grains of sand which look as if placed there by the spider, as sand falling into such a web would go through without sticking to the threads.

$Theridium globosum.$--This is another species with a high abdomen like _tepidariorum_. It is about a twelfth of an inch long and almost as high (fig. 262). The abdomen is a little flattened behind and pointed toward the spinnerets. The hinder part is white, with a large black spot in the middle, below which is sometimes a smaller black spot. Sometimes there is a bright white line around the light area. The front upper part of the abdomen is yellowish gray, and the under part brown. The cephalothorax is orange brown, except a black spot between the eyes. The legs are orange brown.

$Theridium differens.$--Female about one-eighth of an inch long, and the male smaller. The abdomen is round, and the middle stripe often very brightly colored, with white or yellow at the edges and red in the middle (fig. 264). The rest of the abdomen is reddish brown, darkest next to the white edge of the stripe. There are no distinct marks on the under side. In males the stripe on the abdomen is obscure, and the whole abdomen dark reddish brown (fig. 265). Sometimes, especially in young spiders, the abdomen is entirely yellow, with indistinct brown markings. The cephalothorax is orange brown, often darker in the middle, but with no distinct stripe. The legs and palpi are yellow in females and orange brown in males, slightly darker at the ends of the joints. The epigynum has no openings in sight. They are on the inner side in the transverse fold across the abdomen. The palpal organ (fig. 266) has two appendages at the end, one hard and roughened and the other soft. The web is on low plants of all kinds, usually two or three feet from the ground (fig. 263). There is sometimes a small tent, often hardly deep enough to cover the spider, from which the web spreads two or three inches, according to the shape of the plant. The cocoons of eggs are white and nearly as large as the spider, and are attached in the nest.

$Theridium murarium.$--Length about one-eighth of an inch, with the abdomen nearly spherical. The general color is gray. The legs are pale, with dark bands at the end and middle of each joint. The cephalothorax is pale, with a dark line in the middle and one on each side, the middle line sometimes divided into two near the eyes (fig. 267). On the abdomen there is an undulated middle stripe, white at the edges and the front end, and reddish in the middle. On both sides of this stripe the abdomen is nearly black and becomes gradually lighter toward the sides. The sternum is pale, with a black edge and black stripe in the middle. The under side of the abdomen is gray, with a long black spot in the middle and a smaller one over the epigynum. There is little difference in size or color between the sexes. The epigynum (fig. 269) has two round holes, wide apart, near the thickened edge. The palpal organ (fig. 268) is shorter and simpler than it is in _differens_.

$Theridium spirale.$--This is a round-bodied spider of the same size as _differens_ and _murarium_. The cephalothorax is orange brown above and below, with an indistinct dark stripe as wide in front as the eyes and narrowed behind. The abdomen has a middle stripe like _differens_, nearly as wide in front as it is in the middle (fig. 271). The rest of the abdomen is gray, darkest toward the stripe. The legs are pale, sometimes with faint gray rings at the ends and middle of each joint. The middle stripe of the abdomen is sometimes reddish as in _murarium_, but oftener gray, with a dark spot near the front end. The males (fig. 270) have the same color and markings as the female and are sometimes more distinctly marked. The male palpi (fig. 272) are very large, and the palpal organ has a long tube coiled on the under and outer side. The openings of the epigynum (fig. 273) are about their diameter apart.

$Theridium frondeum.$--White, light yellow, or greenish white, with black markings that are very variable (fig. 274). Usually the cephalothorax has two fine black lines running back from the eyes and uniting behind the dorsal groove, and black edges. The legs are usually darkened with brown at the ends of the joints. The abdomen is large and round, and has on the back a light undulated band bordered by brownish translucent spaces, with two black spots just over the spinnerets. Sometimes there are black spots in the translucent spaces, especially toward the hinder end, and these may be united into two long black stripes. In some individuals of either sex the black on the cephalothorax forms a wide band in the middle, almost covering the back, and a black stripe of similar width extends backwards on the abdomen for half its length. These black-striped individuals have all the other variations of color and markings. The males have all the colors and spots brighter and the legs longer than the females. The mandibles of the male are longer than those of the female and have at the base, in front, a low conical point.

This species is found from the White Mountains to Alabama. In New England it matures in July and is found on bushes all summer.

$Theridium unimaculatum.$--This little species differs in color and markings from all the others, and may almost always be distinguished by the white abdomen, with a black spot in the center of the back. The females are a twelfth of an inch long and the males smaller. The cephalothorax is orange yellow, with a black spot around the eyes, extending back in a point as far as the dorsal groove, and there is also a fine black line along the edges. The legs are orange, lighter in the female and darker in the male, with the first and second pairs in the male much stouter. The sternum is orange, with black edges. This spider makes a web, like the other small species, among small leaves and winters under dead leaves on the ground.

THE GENUS STEATODA

Steatoda has the legs shorter and stouter than Theridium. The abdomen is oval and often a little flattened on the back. It is smooth and shining, the hairs being fine and scattered so as to be hardly visible. The thorax is thick and hard, and in some species marked with hard projections and depressions. The head is generally narrow, and the front middle eyes are in several species larger than the others and farther forward and wider apart. In other species all the eyes are about the same size. The webs consist of a flat sheet supported and held down by threads.

$Steatoda borealis.$--This is a dark reddish-brown spider, quarter of an inch long, living among stones or in the corners of fences and window frames, generally well concealed by its web or nest. The cephalothorax is orange brown and covered with short stiff brown hairs. The head is one-third as wide as the thorax and a little higher, the eyes near together, with the front middle pair projecting forward beyond the mandibles (fig. 279). The legs are brown, with faint darker rings, and are thickly covered with hairs. The abdomen is dark chocolate brown, sometimes without any light marks on the upper side, but usually there is a light line running around the front half and another in the middle, extending back half the length of the abdomen and usually broken into several spots. The four depressed spots on the abdomen are distinctly marked. On the under side there is a light stripe on each side, meeting behind the spinnerets. The sexes are much alike in size and color, but the palpi of the male (fig. 278) are longer than the cephalothorax, and the terminal joint is very large and complicated. The web consists of a flat sheet, held out by threads in all directions, but is often so crowded into a corner that its structure is hard to understand (fig. 276).

$Steatoda guttata.$--Only one-tenth of an inch long. The cephalothorax is high, with scattered hairs, at the base of each of which is a horny ridge. The cephalothorax is dark brown, with the legs lighter and more yellow. The abdomen is nearly spherical and hard at the front end, where there is a ring around its attachment to the thorax. Sometimes the abdomen is bright yellow or orange, without markings on the back, but oftener it is partly brown, with two or three pairs of silvery white spots (fig. 280). The males and females are alike in size and color, and the palpi of the males are very large, as in _borealis_. They live under stones at all seasons and mature in April and May.

$Steatoda marmorata.$--About a quarter of an inch long. The cephalothorax and legs yellowish brown. Cephalothorax smooth, with a few hairs. Legs covered with fine hair. The abdomen is usually nearly covered by an oblong dark spot darkened at the edges, where it is bordered by silvery white (fig. 283). The middle is lighter, with a central dark stripe. In some individuals the dark markings are broken up into four pairs of black spots partly connected with a middle line (fig. 282). The head is wider and the eyes smaller and farther apart than in the other species, and the front middle eyes are the smallest. The head is wider in males (fig. 284) than in females, and the mandibles larger. It lives under stones and leaves at all seasons and occasionally on bushes.

$Steatoda corollata.$--This, when full grown, is a little larger than _marmorata_ and darker colored, and the legs are shorter and stouter. The cephalothorax is dark brown, and the legs lighter brown, with dark rings at the ends of the joints. The abdomen is yellowish at the sides and has four or five irregular yellow spots, or pairs of spots, along the middle of a dark brown oval patch which nearly covers the middle of the back. In young specimens the abdomen is lighter, with several pairs of dark spots. The eyes are all nearly the same size, the front middle pair slightly larger and farther forward than the others. It lives under stones, like the other species.

$Steatoda triangulosa.$--The female is a fifth of an inch to a quarter of an inch long. The legs are longer and more slender than in the other species, the first pair twice as long as the body. The cephalothorax is orange brown, slightly rough in females and with short ridges at the base of the hairs in males. The front middle eyes are not larger than the others and are not as far forward as in _borealis_. The legs are light yellow, with slightly darker rings at the ends of the joints. There are thickened brown spots at the base of the hairs all over the body. The abdomen is light yellow, with two irregular brown stripes partly broken into spots and sometimes connected together (fig. 286). The palpi of the male are as long as the femur of the second legs and are small at the end. This spider lives in houses, around window frames and similar places, like _borealis_. The egg cocoons are white and hang in the web.

$Asagena americana.$--This resembles Steatoda, but the abdomen is longer and flatter, and the whole appearance more like some of the Drassidæ. Like Steatoda, it is usually found with its web under stones. It is about a sixth of an inch long. The cephalothorax is dark reddish brown, slightly rough in the females and with sharp points along the sides in the males. The legs are yellow brown and in the males have two rows of small teeth under each femur. They are stout, as in _Steatoda marmorata_, and differ little in length. The abdomen is oval and dark brown in color, with two white spots across the middle (fig. 287). The front of the head is rounded and a third as wide as the thorax. The eyes are close together and all about the same size. The males have the cephalothorax larger and rougher, but in size and color resemble the females.

$Latrodectus mactans.$--This is the largest spider of the family. It is sometimes half an inch long, with the abdomen round and the whole body black, except a bright red spot underneath and one or more red spots over the spinnerets and along the middle of the back (figs. 289, 290). The spots turn yellow or white in alcohol. The cephalothorax is about as wide as long, and the grooves between the head and thorax are deep. The lateral eyes are farther apart than usual in this family. The legs of the male are much larger than those of the female, and each joint is orange brown in the middle and black at the ends. The abdomen of the male has a row of red and white spots in the middle line, as some females do, and across the front end, and along the sides four pairs of stripes, red in the middle and white at the edges (fig. 291). The young of both sexes are colored somewhat like the male and, when very small, have very little black on them. The males vary much in size, some being only a quarter as large as the female. This spider makes its nest among loose stones, on plants, or in houses. Around its hiding place it spins a large funnel-shaped tent that widens into a flat or curved sheet of web, closer in texture toward the tube and more open toward the edges, spreading two or three feet over plants and stones. It is found all over the United States, as far north as Massachusetts and New Hampshire and south through Florida, the West Indies, and South America, as far as Chile. It is everywhere feared as poisonous and dangerous, probably on account of its large size and conspicuous colors, as there is no good reason for considering it more poisonous than other spiders.

$Argyrodes trigonum.$--A little yellow triangular spider, with a high, pointed abdomen (fig. 292). Large females measure an eighth of an inch from the head to the spinnerets and nearly as much from the spinnerets to the tip of the abdomen. Seen from above, the end of the abdomen is a little flattened and notched in the middle (fig. 293). In the female the part of the head around the eyes is slightly raised and the lower part of the front of the head carried forward a little beyond it (fig. 294). In the males there are two horns on the head, one between the eyes and one below them (fig. 295). The color is light yellow, sometimes with a metallic luster, as though gilded. On the back of the cephalothorax are three light brown stripes, and sometimes there are dark spots at the sides of the abdomen and over the spinnerets. The legs are slender, without markings, the front pair longer than the others. The point of the abdomen is movable and is sometimes curved downward when the spider is disturbed in the web, as shown by the dotted line in fig. 292. They make webs like those of Theridium, between branches of shrubs (fig. 296) and also among the upper threads of the webs of larger spiders. They have been found in the webs of Agalena, Theridium, and Linyphia, in the looser parts, out of reach of the maker of the web. Hanging in the web, they look like straws or the scales of pine buds that have fallen into it. The cocoons of eggs hang in the web and have a peculiar shape (fig. 296), the upper part conical and the lower part contracted into a narrow neck. The species is common in New England and is found all over the country as far south as Florida.

$Argyrodes nephilæ.$--This is about as large as _Argyrodes trigonum_, with the hump silver white and the under side of the body black or dark brown (fig. 297). The hump ends in a blunt round point. The front of the head is more nearly vertical than in _trigonum_, and the upper part projects forward, carrying with it the front middle eyes. In the male there are two horns in front of the eyes, the upper one carrying the middle eyes of both rows (fig. 299). The cephalothorax is black or dark brown above and below. The abdomen is black on the under side, including the spinnerets, and there is a black middle stripe extending back to the tip of the hump. The basal joints of all the legs are white. The third and fourth legs are light colored, with a little brown at the ends of the joints. The second legs are darker, and the first pair are almost black, except at the ends. The males are colored like the females, but have the abdomen not much larger than the cephalothorax (fig. 298), and the hump rounded. This is a southern species and is said to live among the outer threads of webs of large Epeiridæ. It does, however, make webs of its own, and I have seen the adults of both sexes at Charleston, S.C., in these webs away from any other spiders.

$Argyrodes fictilium.$--In this species the pointed hump on the abdomen is much more elongated than in _trigonum_, in some spiders to eight or nine times the length of the cephalothorax (fig. 300). The tip is rounded in young specimens and sharp pointed in the larger ones. The front of the head is more inclined than that of _trigonum_ (fig. 301). The colors are light yellow and silvery white, with three darker lines on the cephalothorax and a faint middle line on the abdomen. The legs are very slender and long in proportion to the long abdomen. Found rarely from New England to Alabama.

$Spintharus flavidus.$--A sixth to a quarter of an inch long. The cephalothorax is nearly circular, and the head small and narrow like that of Argyrodes, with the hinder middle eyes very far apart. The abdomen is widest across the front third, where it is two thirds as wide as it is long, and from here it tapers to a blunt point over the spinnerets (fig. 302). On the back the abdomen is flat and marked with white stripes each side, and between them a large pattern in black and red, lighter toward the middle, where there are two or three pairs of white spots. The legs are slender like those of Argyrodes, the first and fourth pairs the same length and twice as long as the second pair. The tibiæ of the first and second legs are bright orange color, and the rest, like the cephalothorax, pale yellow. The male has longer legs and more slender abdomen. They live on low plants, and the web is unknown. They have been found from Massachusetts to Alabama.

$Euryopis funebris.$--A little dark-colored spider, with a flat abdomen pointed behind and bordered with a silver-white stripe. It is almost an eighth of an inch long. The cephalothorax is small and as wide as it is long, with the sides rounded. The head is half as wide as the thorax, a little raised and extended forward over the mandibles (fig. 303). The front middle eyes are largest and are farther apart and farther forward than the others. The abdomen is flat and nearly as wide in the middle as it is long, and tapers to a point behind. The general color is black or dark gray. The cephalothorax is yellowish under the abdomen and black in front. The abdomen has a bright silvery stripe around the hinder half, and inside this the color is black, broken by light spots in the middle. The legs and palpi are light yellow, with dark rings on the ends of the joints. The fourth legs are longest. It is shaken from bushes in summer, or from dead leaves on the ground in winter, and its web is unknown. It is found from the White Mountains to Alabama.

$Theridula sphærula.$--This is a very distinct and easily recognized species, although it is less than a tenth of an inch long (fig. 304). The cephalothorax is yellow, with a wide black stripe in the middle. The abdomen is high and round and wider than it is long; it is yellowish gray, with a greenish white spot in the middle and a black spot on a slight elevation at each side. There is also a black spot around the spinnerets. The legs are light yellow. In the male the light parts of the cephalothorax and legs are orange color, and the markings of the abdomen less distinct than in the female. It lives on bushes all over the country.

$Pholcus phalangioides.$--This is a large pale spider, with legs so long that it is often confounded with Phalangium, under the nickname of "daddy longlegs." The body is quarter of an inch long, and the longest legs two inches. The abdomen is about three times as long as wide and nearly straight at the sides unless full of eggs. The cephalothorax is nearly round and flat behind. Around the eyes the head is raised and in the males separated at the sides from the rest of the head. The middle pair of eyes are not higher than the tops of the lower lateral eyes. The mandibles are nearly as high as the front of the head, and in the males they have a small conical tooth near the base. The color is pale brown, covered with fine gray hairs, and the whole body and legs are translucent. The head is a little darker around the eyes, and there is a large gray patch in the middle of the cephalothorax. The abdomen is marked only by a translucent middle line over the dorsal vessel. This is a house spider, common in America and Europe, and probably imported. It lives in cellars where there is but little light and makes large, loose, flat webs, horizontal where there is a convenient place, or irregular to fit into surrounding objects (fig. 308). The spider hangs in the web with the abdomen directed upward, and when alarmed swings itself around rapidly so that it can hardly be seen. The egg cocoon is so thin that it does not conceal the eggs and is carried about in the spider's mandibles until the young hatch out.

$Pholcus cornutus.$--A small species from the southern states, with a body about a tenth of an inch long and the legs from half to three-quarters of an inch. The abdomen is humped on the back and short on the under side, so that seen from the side it is nearly triangular (fig. 309). The cephalothorax is as wide as long and nearly circular. The head is small and marked by a shallow groove on each side. In front it is higher than wide and inclined a little forward toward the mandibles. The eyes (fig. 310) are raised a little from the head, three large eyes almost touching each other in a group on each side, and a small pair between them just above the lower eyes of the larger groups. The mandibles are three-quarters as high as the head, with a small tooth on the inner corners and, in the males, a long curved horn projecting forward near the base of each mandible (fig. 311). The legs are very slender and transparent, slightly colored brown, with darker rings at the ends of the femur and tibia. There is a dark mark around the eyes and head, forming behind them a middle line that widens toward the hinder end of the cephalothorax. The abdomen is gray, marked on the upper side with three or four pairs of darker spots and behind with lighter spots, somewhat like _Theridium tepidariorum_.

$Scytodes thoracica.$--This is a very peculiar spider, probably imported from Europe, and found in cellars and closets. It is about quarter of an inch long when full grown. The cephalothorax and abdomen are both round and nearly of the same size. The cephalothorax is low and narrow in front and slopes upward to the highest point opposite the third legs (fig. 313), and from there falls abruptly behind. The eyes are six in number, in three pairs, the middle pair lowest and the lateral pairs wide apart at the sides of the head (fig. 312). The front of the head below the eyes projects forward beyond the mandibles. The legs are slender and tapering, the tarsus and metatarsus not more than half as thick as the tibia. The color is pale yellow or white, with black or gray spots, in a regular pattern on the cephalothorax and abdomen, and in rings on the legs.

$Mimetus interfector.$--This is about the same size and color as _Theridium tepidariorum_, but it has a round and Epeira-like abdomen and spiny legs like Epeira or Linyphia. The length is nearly a quarter of an inch. The cephalothorax is one and a half times as long as wide, widest behind and narrow in front (fig. 314). The mandibles are long and dark colored, except a spot near the base. The cephalothorax is whitish, with a stripe of brown from the eyes to the dorsal groove. The abdomen is small, widest in front, like that of _Epeira angulata_, with two prominent corners. The markings are also like Epeira,--a central stripe, with dark spots along the edges (figs. 314, 315). The color is gray and brown in the darker parts. The legs are light yellow, with dark rings at the ends of the joints. It lives on bushes and occasionally on houses and fences, where it has been found in webs among those of _Theridium tepidariorum_.

$Ero thoracica.$--This spider resembles the young of _Theridium tepidariorum_, but the colors are brighter, and the hairs longer and coarser. It is an eighth to a sixth of an inch long. The cephalothorax is nearly as high in the middle as it is long and slopes at a sharp angle under the front of the abdomen (fig. 317). The head is lower than the middle of the thorax, and the front middle eyes project beyond the mandibles. The abdomen is as high as long and has a pair of humps on the highest part. The cephalothorax is light yellow, with a dark irregular stripe on each side and a middle line crossed by a crescent-shaped mark on the highest part. The abdomen is white, with brown spots of various shapes. The front half of each hump is dark brown, and a dark line extends from there down the sides (fig. 316). At the back of the abdomen are several transverse stripes, which are sometimes reddish. Stiff brown hairs are scattered all over the abdomen. The legs are ringed with brown and yellow, and have coarse brown hairs and long spines on the tibia and tarsus, which is unusual in this family. It is found under stones and in winter under leaves in woods. It lives also in Europe.

THE LINYPHIADÆ

The Linyphiadæ consist of a great number of species of small spiders living, for the most part, in shady woods, among the lower branches of plants, under leaves, and in caves and cellars. They differ from the Therididæ generally in having the body more elongated, the legs stouter and with more spines, the mandibles larger and stronger and furnished with teeth around the claw, and the maxillæ straighter and not inclined inward toward the labium. There are two groups among them,--Linyphia and its allies, which are comparatively large and some of which live in the open woods, with large cobwebs, and Erigone and its allies, which are all very small spiders, living mostly in short grass, dead leaves, and moss. The latter usually have narrower bodies and stouter legs, resembling the Drassidæ. Their colors are generally plain and dull, and the females are difficult to distinguish from each other, while the males often have peculiar modifications of the head and proportionally very large and complicated palpi.

The webs usually have a large flat sheet, supported by threads above and below, under which the spider lives. Some species have the sheet of web curved upward or downward. _Linyphia marginata_ forms a dome-shaped web four or five inches in diameter.

THE GENUS LINYPHIA

These spiders vary in size like the species of Theridium, from a quarter of an inch to a tenth of an inch long. In appearance they differ greatly from Theridium; the cephalothorax is longer and higher in front, the legs are long and slender, with distinct spines, and the abdomen is sometimes a little flattened on the back as in Steatoda, but oftener high in front and a little pointed toward the spinnerets. The sexes differ little in size, but often in color and markings. The palpal organs and the terminal joints of the palpi of the males are very large and complicated, and in the smaller species form the best means of distinguishing them. There are a great number of minute species of Microneta, Bathyphantes, and other allied genera, but only the larger and more common are here described.

$Linyphia marginata.$--This is one of the most common web spiders in shady woods all through the summer. It is a sixth of an inch long, with slender legs, the longest of which are usually half an inch. The cephalothorax is two-thirds as wide as long, the middle of it brown and the edges light. The abdomen is flat on top and widest and thickest behind, the colors light yellow and purplish brown (fig. 319). In the middle there is a dark stripe, consisting usually of three parts united by a narrow line, and behind this is another dark spot. At the sides are several dark stripes, the front ones lengthwise and the hinder vertical, all connected with the dark color of the under side. The legs are light yellow without markings, and the hairs and spines fine and not easily seen. In the males all the colors are darker and the abdomen narrower, with only a few light marks at the sides. This spider has no nest, but lives all the time in the middle of its web. It matures in June, and the young brood are common in their small webs in August and September.

The web of _L. marginata_ (fig. 318) is in the form of a dome four or five inches in diameter, hung between rocks and plants, seldom much concealed by leaves. The threads are fine, and the web so transparent that it easily escapes notice unless the sun shines upon it. The meshes are larger than in _L. phrygiana_ and other flat web-making species. The depth and width of the dome depend somewhat on the shape of the opening in which it is made, and the number and length of the supporting threads vary according to the surroundings. The spider stands apparently all the time under the top of the dome. Insects flying near touch the threads above the dome and, their flight being broken, drop down among closer threads and, finally, to the dome itself, where they are caught by the spider and taken through the meshes. Remains of insects and other rubbish are cut loose from the web and dropped. The webs seem to be used for a long time, but if they are injured a new one is soon made, either in the night or day, and the remains of several old webs are often seen hanging flat and torn below a new one. The dome is begun at the top and extended downward by inclined threads, an inch or two long, which are crossed by shorter threads in all directions (fig. 321). The spider works very rapidly, but I have never seen a dome finished, the spider always working a few minutes and then resting a long time.

$Linyphia communis.$--A little smaller than _marginata_, with legs a little shorter. The colors are the same light yellow and purplish brown, but the markings are distinctly different. The cephalothorax is uniform light brownish yellow. The middle stripe of the abdomen extends the whole length of the upper side and connects with several narrow brown stripes that extend down the sides (fig. 323). The abdomen is more regularly oval and less enlarged behind than in _marginata_, but the upper part extends back farther over the spinnerets. The under side is dark brown. The male is smaller than the female, with the head higher and the abdomen narrower. The palpi of the male are unusually small for the genus (fig. 324). The web of _communis_ (fig. 322) consists of a horizontal sheet, convex below and supported by threads above. Below this, about an inch distant, is another sheet of web. Insects flying between the upper threads fall down to the sheet below and are taken through by the spider, as they are in the dome of _marginata_.

$Linyphia mandibulata.$--A little larger than _L. communis_ and _marginata_, with the head longer and more distinct from the thorax, and the abdomen larger and flattened on the top (figs. 326, 327). The length is about a sixth of an inch. The cephalothorax is dark orange brown, and the legs a lighter shade of the same color. The length of the legs is about as in _communis_, shorter than _marginata_ and _phrygiana_. The abdomen is dark brown, often almost black, with several white spots, usually two across the front end and several others around the sides (fig. 326), sometimes forming a complete light stripe around the middle. In the males the abdomen is narrow, and the only markings are usually the two spots on the front end. The cephalothorax of the male is long and narrow; the head is extended forward, and the mandibles inclined backward toward the maxillæ. The mandibles are more than half as long as the cephalothorax and widened at the ends, with four teeth on the inner corner (fig. 329). On the inner side of the mandibles, near the middle, is a large blunt tooth.

The webs are flat and near the ground, on short grass and leaves and across little hollows in the sod (fig. 325). The webs are not as large as those of _phrygiana_, and the spider has no nest, but stands always in the web and drops suddenly when alarmed. It lives all over the eastern part of the country and resembles closely the _Linyphia pusilla_ of Europe.

$Linyphia coccinea.$--About a sixth of an inch long and bright red and orange color. The size and length of legs are about the same as in _communis_. The legs are light orange, the cephalothorax a deeper shade of the same color, and the abdomen light red. The palpi have the ends black, and the legs are sometimes streaked with black. The hinder middle eyes are twice as large as the others and twice as far apart as the front middle pair. The space between and around the middle eyes is black. The top of the abdomen is a little flattened and extended back in a blunt black point over the spinnerets (fig. 330). The male (fig. 331) differs little from the female except in the more slender abdomen and longer legs. The male palpi are as long as those of the female and only a little thickened at the ends. The blackened point on the end of the abdomen is less distinct in the male than the female. The web is a little concave, not as deep as that of _marginata_ and with smaller meshes. It is made among low plants. This is a common species in the South.

$Linyphia phrygiana.$--This is one of the most common species and lives both in the woods and around houses. It is larger than _marginata_ and _communis_, measuring a fifth of an inch in length. The cephalothorax is light yellow, with a black line in the middle, forked at the front end, and another at the sides near the edge of the thorax. The legs are light yellow, with a dark ring at the end of each joint and at the middle of each tibia and metatarsus. The legs are also marked with dark spots, especially on the femora, and the spines are black and conspicuous. The abdomen is yellowish, with brown spots at the sides and beneath, and along the middle of the back is a dark brown or red herring-bone stripe (fig. 333). The head of the male is higher than that of the female and has a crest of stiff hairs. The male palpi (fig. 334) have a long spur on the patella and have the end small, like _communis_. The web (fig. 332) is a large flat sheet, sometimes over a foot across. A corner of it usually runs under a stone or other hiding place, and here the spider stands, often making a little tent in connection with the web.

$Linyphia (Stemonyphantes) trilineata.$--About a quarter of an inch long, with a large oval abdomen and comparatively short legs. The color is light yellowish gray, the cephalothorax with three dark lines, and the abdomen with three rows of dark spots partly connected in lines. The legs are marked with dark rings on the ends and middle of the joints, more distinctly on the under than on the upper side. The sternum is light in the middle and black around the edge, and the abdomen has irregular black spots at the sides and beneath. The male has longer legs and wider thorax and smaller abdomen. It lives under stones and logs and winters under leaves in the woods. It is common both in this country and Europe.