352 



ARACHNIDA ARANEAE 



complexity in the nature of the silk used. It is interesting, 

 however, to find that viscid globules, not unlike those which stud 

 the " spiral line " of the Epeiridae, are sometimes present in the 

 snares of the Line- weavers, 1 and in these, too, aggregate glands are 

 present. There is a large spider of this family, Theridion tepid- 

 ariorum, which may be found to a certainty in almost any hot- 

 house in this country. In its snare, which is of the ordinary 

 irregular type, F. Pickard-Cambridge has observed little patches 

 of flocculent silk, calculated to render more certain the entangle- 

 ment of prey, and he has further described a curious comb-like 

 structure on the hind leg of the animal which is probably used 

 in the production of this phenomenon. It is by no means unlikely 

 that a more careful study of these apparently simple snares will 

 lead to the discovery of further complexity of structure. 



Uloborus, a cribellate genus which has an Epeirid-like, 

 orbicular snare, decorates some of the lines with the produce 



of the cribellate glands, 

 but viscid globules are 

 absent. 



Sheet -Webs. The 

 webs which are such 

 familiar and, by asso- 

 ciation, unpleasant 

 objects in unused rooms 

 and outhouses are usu- 

 ally the work of spiders 

 belonging to the Agelen- 

 idae and the Dictynidae. To the first belongs the common 

 House -spider, Tegenaria civilis, and its larger congener, T. 

 parietina. These spiders are not attractive in appearance, and 

 the last-named species especially, with the four-inch span of 

 its outstretched legs, is a formidable object, and a terror to 

 domestic servants. An obscure tradition connecting it with 

 Cardinal Wolsey and Hampton Court has caused it to be known 

 as the Cardinal Spider. An out-door example of the Agelenidae 

 is the very abundant Agelena labyrinthica, whose sheet-web, with 

 its tubular retreat, is to be sought on the banks of ditches, or in 

 the hedges of our country lanes. 



FIG. 193. Snare of Ulohonis sp., some of the lines 

 being thickened with threads from the cribellum. 

 (After M'Cook.) 



1 M'Cook, American Spiders and their Spinning Work, i., 1889, p. 351 ; F. 

 Pickard- Cam bridge, J. Micr. and lYat. Sci. July 1890. 



