Superfamily Argiopoidea 



of a specimen resting on some threads it had spun in a glass 

 cage; but the threads were not sufficiently well lighted to be 

 photographed. Upon the hump of the abdomen there is a black 

 transverse bar; in front of this bar the dorsum is light gray; 

 back of it, a light brown, with some gray hairs. There are three 

 pairs of light gray spots margined with black; those of the first 

 pair are situated one at each end of the black bar; the third pair 

 is midway between the first pair and the tip of the abdomen. 



This is a tropical species, which is found throughout the 

 tropics of both hemispheres; and it extends into the southern 

 part of the United States. 



I found many specimens which had built their webs on the 

 ceiling of an old powder magazine at Baton Rouge, La. The room 

 was poorly lighted and was much like a cellar. 



1 was unable to see the webs distinctly in this dark room at 

 Baton Rouge. But later I found this species common in build- 



Fig. 244. 



EGG-SAC OF ULOBO 

 RUS GENICULATES 



Fig. 245. HYPTIOTES CAVATUS, ENLARGED 



ings on the Bermuda Islands. In one case a web was in a good 

 light so that I could see it well. There was a sheeted hub upon 

 which the spider was resting; and the hackled band was attached 

 to the radii in the same manner as in the hackled band of Hyp- 

 tiotes; that is, the band did not extend directly across a radius, 

 but followed it for a short distance, as is the case with the 

 spiral thread in the notched zone of the web of some of the 

 Argiopidae. 



The egg-sacs of this species (Fig. 244) are of a pinkish brown 

 colour, and star-like in outline, and measure about one fourlh inch 

 in diameter. 



269 



