S2 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[April 1, 1S6S. 



MORE GOSSIP ABOUT SPIDERS. 





Fig. 58. Tegenaria atrica, enlarged. 



~|%yrY gossip on the present occasion is not about 

 -"-■- so small a thing as the Theridion riparium, 

 but about one of the largest, most powerful, and 

 ferocious of our indigenous spiders — the black, or 

 dark-coloured, Tegenaria {Tegenaria atrica). 



But I would preface my remarks by informing 

 my readers that when naturalists speak of. ferocity, 

 cruelty, &c, in the lower creatures, they simply use 

 convenient terms to describe the exhibition of cer- 

 tain instincts which bear a resemblance to such 

 bad propensities in man. Do not, however, sup- 

 pose, dear reader, that creatures described as cruel 

 are really so. Spiders and other carnivora have 

 been created for a special purpose ; they have been 

 endowed with faculties and powers, and have been 

 furnished with organs adapted for the pursuit, cap- 

 ture, and destruction of the creatures upon which 

 they prey ; and it would manifestly be as impossible 

 for a carnivorous animal to change its nature, and 

 become a feeder upon vegetables, as it would for 

 man to gnaw his way into an oak tree, and exist 

 upon the wood. To say that the exercise of the 

 powers bestowed upon them is prompted by male- 

 volence is simply absurd. 



But to my dark-coated friend. The female Tege- 

 naria atrica is of considerable size, the whole body 

 being rather more than five-eighths of an inch in 

 length ; the cephalo-thorax, which is very hairy, is 

 of a yellowish-brown colour, marked with irregular 

 dark brown bauds; the abdomen is nearly oval, 

 hairy, and of a light brown hue ; the sides rather 

 thickly marked with black spots ; along the middle 

 of the upper part extends a series of light brown 

 lines, alternating with others 

 of a darker brown. The eyes 

 are eight in number (fig. 59). 

 The four middle ones nearly 

 form a square ; the two outer 

 pairs arc rather oblique and 

 raised. When viewed closely, they shine as brightly 

 as minute diamonds. 



The falces are large and very powerful, furnished 

 with two rows of teeth, hairy on the inner surface, 

 and nearly black. The legs are long and very 

 hairy ; the colour is reddish-brown, approaching to 

 greenish-brown on the thighs; the posterior pair 

 are one-quarter inch in length, the first and third 

 somewhat shorter. Owing to the dark hairy legs 



Fig. 59. 



