Superfamily Argiopoidea 



description the only locality given is North America. I collected 

 the species at Miami, Fla. This is the only species reported from 

 the United States; but 1 collected what appears to be a distinct 

 species at Austin, Tex. 



Family ATTIDiE (At'ti'dae) 

 The Jumping Spiders 



The jumping spiders are of medium or small size, with a short 

 body and stout legs furnished with two tarsal claws. They are 

 common on plants, logs, fences, and the sides of buildings. They 

 are apt to attract attention by their peculiar appearance; their 

 ihort, stout legs, bright colours, conspicuous eyes, quick jumping 

 movements being very different from those of other spiders. 



The members of this family can be easily recognized by the 

 characteristic arrangement of their eyes and the relative size of 

 the different pairs of eyes (Fig. 736). The eyes occupy the whole 

 length of the head-part of the 

 cephalothorax, and limit a quad- 

 rilateral area, which is termed 

 the ocular quadrangle. The an- 

 terior eyes are situated on the 

 vertical face and are large; the 

 anterior median eyes are very 

 large. The posterior median 

 eyes, which are usually desig- 

 nated as the small eyes, are very 

 small, often difficult to see, and 

 are situated in front of the posterior lateral eyes, sometimes 

 called the dorsal eyes, forming a transverse row distinct from 

 them; the eyes of these spiders are therefore in three rows. This 

 arrangement recalls that of the eyes of the Lycosidae, but in 

 that family the eyes of the second row are large. The eyes of 

 the jumping spiders are all of the diurnal type. 



In a small group of genera, represented in our fauna only 

 by Lyssomanes, the anterior lateral eyes are situated, behind the 

 anterior median eyes, thus forming a second row of eyes (Fig. 

 737); the eyes of these spiders are therefore in four rows, each 

 row consisting of two eyes. 



The body is usually thickly covered with hair or with scales. 



661 



Fig. 736. 

 EYES OF A JUMPING SPIDER 

 a, cephalothorax from 

 b, face and chelicera; 



