DIPNEUMONES. 



Gf>l 



fends her progeny while life endures. She also takes care of 

 her young, making a tent like that of social caterpillars for 

 their shelter, and remaining near them till the}- can protect 

 themselves." It occurs in South Carolina and Alabama. 

 Heiitz says of T. verecundum Hentz, a jet black species found 

 in the Southern States, that "it is very common under stones, 

 logs, or clods of earth, where it makes a web, the threads of 

 which are so powerful as to arrest the largest Hymenopterous 

 insects, such as humble bees. Its bite, if I can rely on the 

 vague description of 

 p h y s i c i a n s unac- 

 quainted with ento- 

 mology, is somewhat 

 dangerous, producing 

 alarming nervous dis- 

 orders. "Fig. G29 rep- 

 resents Theridion rf- 

 parium (lower figure, 

 male ; upper, female, 

 enlarged), of Europe. 



Elvira is readily 

 known by the large 

 globular a b d o m e n . 

 The species are "sed- 

 entary, forming a web 

 composed of spiral 

 threads crossed 1 >y 

 other threads depart- 

 ing from the centre ; they often dwell in a tent constructed 

 above the web ; the cocoons are of various forms. E. vnh/aris 

 Heiitz (Plate 12, fig. 12) is pale gray, with a pitchy black ab- 

 domen, with various winding white marks, and a middle one in 

 the form of a cross. It spins a regular geometrical web, and 

 is almost domesticated, being found about the outside of 

 houses and in gardens. E. domicil forum Hentz is a gray or 

 brownish species, and is found in dark rooms. 



The genus Nephila comprises large spiders, with long cylin- 

 drical abdomens. N.plumipes (Fig. 630, natural size) is found 

 in the Southern States. Dr. B. G. Wilder has given an ac- 



Fig. 029. 



