188 ARACHNIDES. 



acute angles on each side. For these interesting observations I am 



indebted to my friend M. Leon Dufour. 



Uloborus Walckenaerius, Lat.(l) About five lines in length; 

 reddish-yellowish; covered with a silky down forming two series 

 of little fasciculi on the top of the abdomen; paler rings on the 

 legs. From the woods in the vicinity of Bourdeaux, and in va- 

 rious departments of the south of France. 



Tetragnatha, Lat. 



The eyes placed four by four on two nearly parallel lines, and 

 separated by almost equal intervals; jaws long, narrow, and only 

 widened at their superior extremity. The chelicers are also very 

 long, in the males especially. The web is vertical(2). 



Epeira, Walck. 



The two eyes on each side approximated by pairs, and almost con- 

 tiguous; the remaining four forming a quadrilateral in the middle* 

 The jaws dilate from their base, and form a rounded palette. 



The ciicurbit'ma is the only species known whose web is horizon- 

 tal; that of the others is vertical, or sometimes oblique. 



Some place themselves in its centre in a reversed position, or with 

 their head downwards; others construct a domicil close by it, either 

 vaulted on all sides, or forming a silky tube composed of leaves 

 drawn together by threads, or open above, and resembling a cup or 

 the nest of a bird. The web of some exotic species is formed of such 

 stout materials that it will arrest small Birds, and even impede the 

 progress of a Man. 



Their cocoon is usually globular; that of some species, however, 

 is a truncated oval, or very short cone. 



The natives of New Holland Voyage a la recherche de la Pey- 

 rouse, p. 239 and those of some of the South Sea Islands, for want 

 of other food, eat a species of Epeira, closely allied to the Jiranea 

 esuriens, Fab. 



M. Walckenaer, in his Tableau des Araneides, mentions sixty-four 

 species of Epeirae, remarkable, in general, for the diversity of their 

 colours, form and habits. He has arranged them in various small 

 and very natural families, the study of which we have endeavoured 

 to simplify in the second edition of the Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., 

 article Epe'ire. Certain important considerations, such as those of 



(1) Lat, Gen. Crust, et Insect., I, 109; see also second edition of the Nouv. 

 Diet. d'Hist. Nat., article Ulobore. 



(2) Tetragnatha extensa, Walck., Hist, des Aran., V, vi; Aranea externa, L., 

 Fab. , De Geer; Aranea virescens? Fab.; Aranea maxillosa, Id. See Tab. des 

 Aran, of Walckenaer. 



