xi] THERAPHOSID SPIDERS 89 



separated or brought together, and which tend to 

 meet in the object into which they are plunged, while 

 the jaws of theraphosid spiders work in parallel 

 vertical planes, and strike downwards. 



All the spiders which have so far concerned us 

 are Arcuieae verae, and we have incidentally had 

 occasion to note some of the principal families of that 

 division Epeiridae (or Argiopidae as some prefer 

 to call them), Theridiidae, Agelenidae, Thomisidae, 

 Lycosidae and Attidae. 



Indeed there is only one theraphosid spider that 

 there is the least likelihood of our coming across in 

 this country. Their true home is in hotter climes, 

 and though stragglers from their army are not rare 

 in the warmer portions of temperate regions, they 

 abound only in tropical countries. They include the 

 " Trap-door " spiders, common in the Mediterranean 

 region and in many other widely distant parts of the 

 world, and the great "Bird-eating" spiders of the 

 tropics the spiders which are quite wrongly but 

 universally alluded to in America as Tarantulas. 



The single British example is well worth the 

 study of any reader who is fortunate enough to come 

 across it. But he must first catch his hare, for 

 Atypm affinis (or piceus as it used to be called) 

 does not grow in every hedge-row, nor is it easy to 

 find it where it does occur. Most of the localities 

 recorded are^in the south of England. It is a thick-set 



