Superfamily Argiopoidea 



blotched with white, and has two rows of four or five spots each 

 above, and a few chevrons at the tip (Fig. 413); the sides are 

 marked with some oblique stripes, and the venter is almost wholly 

 black. The epigynum of the female projects in a prominent 

 manner and has the ovipositor coiled back under the atriolum 

 (Fig. 414). The cymbium of the male palpus is longer than the 

 femur and is furnished on the dorsal side at the base with a long, 

 backward projecting apophysis. The length of the body is one 

 sixth inch. 



Mr. Banks, to whom I am indebted for specimens of this 

 species and who first described it, states that it lives among grass 

 or leaves close to the ground. It was- first found on Long Island; 

 and it is common in the vicinity of Washington, D. C. It has 

 also been taken at Ithaca, N. Y. 



Family ARGIOPID^;* (Ar-gi-opi'-dae) 



The Orb-weavers 



These spiders are most easily recognized by their web-building 

 habits; all of the species that make webs build what is known as 

 an orb-web, and this type of web is built by no member of any 

 other family except Uloborus of the family Uloboridae; and in this 

 case the nature of the spiral thread is very different from what it is 

 in the Argiopidae. 



The orb-weavers are three-clawed, eight-eyed, sedentary 

 spiders. In nearly all of. t|re genera the eyes are similar; and 

 the lateral condyle of the chelicerae is usually present. The 

 tarsi are more or less clothed with hairs; but they lack the comb 

 characteristic of the Theridiidae, and the peculiar arrangement 

 of spines that distinguishes the Mimetidae. 



The family Argiopidae includes seven subfamilies; the fol- 

 lowing table will aid in the separation of these: 



TABLE OF SUBFAMILIES OF THE ARGIOPID^ 



A. Eyes dissimilar. P. 401. Theridiosomatin^ 



AA. Eyes similar. 



This family has been designated the Epeiridse by mcf1 writers; but as it has been found that 

 the generic na-je Epsira is not tenable, the name of the family has been changed to Argiopidae by 

 later writers. 



4OO 



