Superfamily Argiopoidea 



„.?"v'' 



primary loops, and from two others the silk that is combed by 

 the calamistrum into the secondary loops; in this way a double 

 band is formed, and to each half is applied a sheet of viscid silk. 

 On the inner surface of each fore spinneret there is a series of flat- 

 tened hairs (Fig. 286) which appear as if they were for the purpose 



of conducting the silk from the 

 cribellum to the hackled band, the 

 series of each side leading to one of 

 the parts of the double band. 



This species is known chiefly as 

 a house-spider; but at Austin, Tex., 

 I found only a few of its webs about 

 buildings, while it was very common 

 under stones in the fields. Its web 

 was not observed in this situation; 

 Fig. 2 86. spinneret of filistata but the collecting was done early in 



the spring before the spiders had be- 

 come active. It was one of these spiders taken from under a stone 

 in the field that made the web shown in Figs. 283 and 284. 

 The adult males wander about, and as they lack the cribellum 

 and calamistrum, specimens captured away from their webs 

 would not be recognized by the beginner as belonging to the 

 cribellate group of spiders. 



£«*4j&:.:. '■ 



FAMILY DYSDERIDiE (Dys-der'i-dae) 



The Dysderids {Dys-der'ids) 



The dysderids are six-eyed 

 spiders which have four con- 

 spicuous spiracles near the base 

 of the abdomen, a pair of lung- 

 slits and a pair of tracheal spir- 

 acles (Fig. 287). They can be 

 distinguished from the members 

 of the following family, which 

 also have only six eyes and 

 possess four spiracles, by the 

 form of the coxae of the first 

 two pairs of legs, which are 

 long and cylindrical (Fig. 287). 



Fig. 287. DYSDERA INTERRITA 



298 



