SPIDEli; 
477 
grown, is not much inferior in size to a small 
hazel nut: the general colour of the animal is 
deep chesnut-brown, approaching to reddish in 
some specimens, and the abdomen is beautifully 
marked by a longitudinal series of round or drop- 
shaped milk-white spots, crossed by others of simi- 
lar appearance, so as to represent in some degi'ee 
the pattern of a small diadem. This spider, in 
the months of September and October, forms, in 
some convenient spot or shelter, a large round, 
close, or thick web of yellow silk, in which it de- 
posits its eggs, guarding the round web with a 
secondary one of a looser texture. The young 
are hatched in the ensuing May, the parent in- 
sects dying towards the close of Autumn. The 
male of this species is distinguished by having the 
back crossed by four or five black-brown bars. 
The Aranea Diadema being one of the largest of 
the common spiders serves to exemplify some of 
the principal characters of the genus in a clearer 
manner than most others. At the tip of the abdo- 
men are placed five* papillas or teats, through 
which the insect draws its thread; and as each of 
these papillae is furnished with a vast number of 
foramina or outlets, disposed over its whole sur- 
face, it follows that what w^e commonly term a 
spider’s thread is in reality formed of a collection 
of a great many distinct ones ; the animal possess- 
ing the power of drawing out more or few^er at 
* In some species four; and in some are two smaller papillae, 
the nature of which is doubtful. 
