Superfamily Argiopoidea 



Although this spider usually selects a dark situation for its 

 web, the egg-sacs are made in exposed places. Some of them hang 

 from the face of a cliff; but the favourite position is suspended from 

 dead branches of hemlock and other brush. I have also found 

 many attached to living herbs. They are sometimes very abun- 



Fig. 417- EGG-SAC OF THERIDIOSOMA RADIOSA 



dant; on one occasion I counted twenty-four egg-sacs in one cubic 

 foot of space, among the roots of a tree on the side of a glen. The 

 presence of this remarkable spider in a locality can be most easily 

 determined by the presence of the egg-sacs. The spiderlings 

 emerge from the egg-sac in the latter part of summer. 



Subfamily TETRAGNATHIN/E (Te-trag-na-thi'nae) 

 The Tetragnatbids (Te-trag'na-thids) 



The most striking characteristic of this subfamily is the large 

 size of the cheliceras, especially in the males. I he endites are 

 also usually quite large. It was probably this fact that suggested 

 the name Telragnatha, four-jawed, for the typical genus. But it 

 would be unwise to speak of these spiders as the four-jawed spiders, 

 as that would suggest that they differed from other spiders in 

 the possession of an extra pair of jaws. 



The members of this subfamily are distinguished from other 



