Superfamily Argiopoidea 



in low subconfluent tubercles. The tibiae and metatarsi of the 

 anterior legs are usually furnished with more than three pairs of 

 inferior spines. The tarsal claws are furnished with five or six 

 isolated teeth (Fig. 589). The cuticle is clothed with simple, 

 isolated hairs, which are usually pointed, rarely blunt, but never 

 clavate. 



These spiders live under stones and leaves or under loose bark ; 

 a few live on low plants. They are fawn-coloured or brownish. 

 Usually there is a broad clear band on the cephalothorax enclosing 



Fig. 589. TARSUS OF XYSTH 



in front an obscure triangular spot, and the abdomen is orna- 

 mented with a broad, strongly notched band; but there are, 

 however, some unicolorous species. 



In the palpus of the males the lower margin of the cymbium 

 bears an appendage for the protection of the tip of the embolus, 

 the tutaculum, and the genital bulb bears a pair of well-developed 

 apophyses. 



The genus is a very large one; nearly forty species have been 

 described from the United States, which is about one third of 

 our thomisid fauna. Only a few of our more common and more 

 widely distributed species can be described here; but a large 

 proportion of the species commonly taken are included in this 

 short list. 



Xysticus elegans (X. el'e-gans). — The female measures 

 one third inch in length. The ground colour of the cephalothorax 

 is brownish yellow, with a narrow, white, marginal seam; the sides 

 are veined with brownish red; there is a lighter, median, longi- 

 tudinal band, which is also streaked with red, at leas! to the 

 beginning of the last third of its length where the red markings 

 end in a blunt point. The abdomen is brown above, somewhat 

 lighter before the middle, and with several narrow, bowed, trans- 

 verse bands behind; the sides and venter are yellow. The epigy- 

 num, as figured by Kevserling, is represented in Fig. 590. 



533 



