Superfamily Argiopoidea 



bein 



i^p^. 



Genus NERIENE (Ne-ri-e'ne) 



The eyes of the posterior row are unequal in size, the median 

 g much larger than the lateral; the posterior median eyes are 



slightly nearer to the posterior 

 lateral eyes than to each other; the 

 femora have but few or no spines. 



The better known and more 

 common of the species that occur in 

 the United States are the following. 



Neriene clathrata (N. cla- 

 thra'ta). The body is about 

 one eighth inch in length. The 

 cephalothorax is yellowish brown. 

 The abdomen of the female is 

 pale brown, thickly spotted with 

 white, and marked with brownish 

 black bars (Fig. 396). The male 

 ^^f Aj f isdarker; in thisM'x the abdomen 



is sometimes almost entirely black 

 with a white spot on each side. 



The web is built among grass 

 near the ground;' it is a flat sheet, 

 and the spider hangs at one side 

 of it. 



Fig. 396. NERIENE CLATHRATA 



Fig. 397. NERIENE COCCINEA 



Neriene coccinea (N. coc-cin'e-a). — When alive this spider 

 is crimson or red, with the last three segments of the pedipalps, 

 the area occupied by the eyes, and the tip of the tubercle of the 

 abdomen, black. In alcohol, the red colour is lost to a greater 



384 



