5o 



THE COMMON SPIDERS 



the white spots have short and wide scales. Under the abdo- 

 men the color is light gray, with two parallel darker stripes. 

 The legs are pale in the middle of the joints and dark toward 

 the ends and covered with gray and black hairs. The palpi are 

 light yellow. 



In alcohol the orange color disappears almost entirely, the 

 black and white markings become less distinct, and all the 

 colors browner. The colors of the male (fig. 134) are entirely 

 different. The cephalothorax and legs to the end of the tibia 

 are black. The palpi are black, with a stripe of white scales on 

 the upper side. Around the front end of the abdomen is a 

 white stripe ; the sides are bright orange red and the middle 

 black. Between the orange and black are three pairs of white 



spots. They make a bag of white silk 

 among leaves, in which in the early sum- 

 mer a male and female may sometimes 

 be found together and in which the female 

 later makes a cocoon of eggs. The young 

 hatch soon and become half grown before 

 winter. 



Phidippus mystaceus. — A stout species 

 half an inch long, gray and hairy, in alcohol 

 turning brown. The abdomen is light 

 gray at the sides and dark in the middle, 

 with four pairs of white spots, the third 

 pair largest (fig. 135). The cephalothorax 

 is round and nearly as wide as long. The 

 front row of eyes is little longer than half 

 the greatest width of the cephalothorax. 

 The cephalothorax is flat on top for almost its whole length 

 and in front about twice the diameter of the largest eyes in 

 height. The mandibles are large and bright metallic green in 

 front (fig. 118). The legs are stout and short, the fourth pair 



Fig. 135. Phidippus my- 

 staceus, enlarged six 

 times. 



