530 DESCRIPTIONS OP SOME NEW ARANEIDiE, 



kept in captivity. At the best they caii but form a clue to their 

 life-histories, although at times they may l^e useful in assisting to 

 elucidate problems encountered in the field. Upon this question 

 I am fully in accord with Wagner, when he says :— " Such descrip- 

 tions are prone to great error, because certain spiders which, in 

 liberty place their cocoons on the outside of their snares, in 

 captivity, and with new surroundings, often change the position; 

 thus a species which habitually establishes its cocoon at a distance 

 from its snare will, in captivity, place it either abo\e or at the 

 side. This is not the result of new conditions, but simply the. 

 impossibility to do otherwise owing to its environment; neverthe- 

 less such incidents are often taken as normal phenomena."* 



In applying myself to the study of the architecture of Austra- 

 lian Araneidfe — so far as the present paper is concerned — I pro- 

 pose to deal first with the Epeirld(K, secondly with the Drassidce, 

 thirdly with the Salticidcp, and fourthly with the Thomisidce, and 

 to note in illustration of the spinning-work of these creatures 

 such examples as have come under my own observation. 



Epeirid^. 



The spiders of this family, owing to their habits and modes of 

 life, are undoubtedly one of the most prominent groups in the 

 whole of the Araneidce. To the casual observer they are familiar 

 by their orb-like snares which are always located in more or less 

 exposed positions. The mode of weaving the typical snare has been 

 so often and so fully described that it would be superfluous and 

 wearisome here to enter into minute details. Indeed, considering 

 how common and prominent they are, it would be strange if they 

 had not at an early period attracted notice. At the same time, it 

 must be borne in mind that the habit of fabricating orbitular 

 snares is not absolutely constant in the Upeiridce. Cambridge 

 has drawn attention to a species of this extensive family that 

 does not do so. In reviewing Thorell's great workf the eminent 



* Loc. cit. pp. 4, 5. 

 t Remarks on tlie Synonyms of European Spiders. Upsala, 1869-70. 



