DIPNEUMONES. 



651 



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 they can protect 

 themselves." It occurs in South Carolina and Alabama. 

 Hentz 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 

 physicians unac- 

 quainted with ento- 

 mology, is somewhat 

 dangerous, producing 

 alarming nervous dis- 

 orders. "Fig. 629 rep- 

 resents Theridion ri- 

 parium (lower figure, 

 male ; upper, female, 

 enlarged), of Europe. 



Epeira is readily 

 known by the large 

 globular abdomen. 

 The species are "sed- 

 entary, forming a web 

 composed of spiral 

 threads crossed by 

 other threads depart- 

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

 above the web ; the cocoons are of various forms. E. vulgar is 

 Hentz (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. domiciliorum Hentz is a gray or 

 brownish species, and is found in dark rooms. 



The genus Nepliila 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 ao 



Fig. 629. 



