20 



AMERICAN SriDKRS ANI) THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



ity of 

 Lycosids 



in species as the Epeiroids; in brilliancy and variety of colors they sur- 

 pass both these and other families of spiders, and may even be compared 

 with the showy families of Coleoptera.^ 



Great as is the weight which this justly distinguished arachnologist car- 

 ries toward the Attoids, I am inclined, in consideration of both instincts 

 and structure, to place the Lycosids at the head of the order. 

 Superior- r|.j^g organization of this family is, to say the least, but little 

 inferior, if at all, to that of the Attoids; and in their spinning 

 habits I have no hesitation in pronouncing them to be sui)erior. 

 Indeed, the Saltigrades are by no means remarkable for their spinning- 

 work, in this respect scarcely equaling the 

 Tubeweavers, perhaps the lowest of the 

 spiders. The Citigrades, however, exhibit 

 most interesting industries; and especially 

 in the personal care of their young, 'from 

 the egg cocoon to the period when the 

 spiderlings can shift for themselves, the 

 Lycosids seem to me to show a higher 

 order of instinct than the Attoids, certainly 

 one as high. The whole subject, however, 

 is one which in- 

 cludes difficulties 

 too numerous and 

 serious to allow a 

 full discussion in 

 these pages. 



The Orbweavers have their nearest rela- 

 tions in the Lineweavers, whose snares of 

 netted lines are familiar in the 

 Orbweav- ^j^glgg ^f q^^j^. liouses, forming 



largely the domestic " cobwebs." 

 Lme- T 1 ■^ 



weavers ^^ uiost cases the two tribes can 



be distinguished by a practiced 

 eye by the general form. But they can 



Fig. 6. Citigrade Spider, Lycosa" scutulata mOSt Casily bc Separated tllUS : TllC Epei- 

 Hentz. (Marx, del.) X2. -ii ix'iijj i 



roids have a low toreliead, not transversely 

 impressed ; from the margin of the clypeus to the middle front i)air of 

 eyes the distance is less, or at any rate not greater than the distance ho- 

 tween the middle fVoiit and middle rear eyes. In the Ketitelaritu, on the 

 contrary, the distance from ilic margin of the clypeus to the middle front 

 eyes is greater than that from the middle front to the middle rear eyes.-^ 



' lOuropean Spiders, \)ag(i 40. 



^ TluTc lire cxcc-iitioiis in (lie case of sniii(> lOpciroiil inaU's witli strmiLi'ly iirdjcctiiiL: Cnrc- 

 licad, anil in llic L^cniis TapiiL-pa, among tiic Kef itclaria'. 



Fig. 7. Liuevveaving Spider, Therid- 

 iuni tepidariorum. (Marx, del.) 



