GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AND STRUCTURE. 



19 



Thorell's 

 Vie"ws. 



II. 



The propriety of begiiiiiiiig the series of spiders witli tlie Orbweavers has 

 been generally recognized by authors. Perhaps some have had no better 

 reason than that which popularly associates this group with the 

 „ name spider; but others liave thought that the highest forms 



in the order Aranece are really included within the Orbitelaria^. 

 The suggestion of Thorell can hardly be allowed that the more artistic 

 construction of web shows higher development of instincts 

 in Epeiroids than in other families of the order. Surely the 

 nests of some Lineweavers, as Theridium ri2)arium and Liny- 

 pliia marginata ; of such Citigrades as our Turret spider, 

 Lycosa arenicola Scudder ; and such Tunnel weavers as our 

 California trap door spider, Cteniza californica Cambridge, 

 show a grade of instinct quite as high as that of the Orb- fig.4 saitigrade 



. '^ Spider, Epible- 



weavers, and which, moreover, as it seems to me, exhibits a mum scenicum 

 wider range of voluntary action and variation tlian the more <^i«''<='^- 

 mechanical spinning of a geometric web. Willi greater justice Thorell, 

 wlien speaking to the point of structure alone, disallows the 

 claims of the Orbweavers to the highest position in their order. 

 If we consider (he says) as we reasonably ought to do, more 

 the harmonious development of the body's various parts, the superior de- 

 velopment of the organs of sense, and such like, we see that the Epeiroidse, 



with their weak cephalothorax and heavy abdomen, 

 their slow and clumsy motions, and their compara- 

 tively small eyes, are surpassed by more than one of 

 the other families usually looked upon as lower. The 

 Lycosoidffi are distinguished by their well proportioned 

 forms, their powerfully developed cephalothorax, by 

 the quickness and force of their movements, and 

 highly developed organs of sight. 



The Attoicke also, as may be easily remarked by 

 a casual observer in the little striped, jumping spider 



(Ei)iblemum scenicum) familiar around all 



The 



Att "d ^^^^ rural and suburban homes, have a strik- 

 ing ex})ression of intelligence. This may be 



an optical effect solely due to the peculiar eyes and 



nervous jerking action of the animal, but certainly 

 Fig. 5 Tubeweaving Spider, qj^^ jg gtrougly reminded thereby of the " ex])ression" 



(inaphosa variegata Hentz. '^ '' ^ '■ 



(Marx, del.) Much magni- of thc Hymcuoptera, as auts and wasps, the most 



highly developed of the order of insects. 



As regards the other reasons adduced to support the i)recminence of 



the Epeiroids above all other si)iders, such as the number and beauty of 



the species, the small number of transition forms, etc., they hold eciually 



true of the Attoids. These form a unit (piite as close, compact, and rich 



