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PREFACE 



There are few books on the American spiders, and these 

 are either large and expensive works or else special papers 

 published by scientific societies, and so little known to the 

 public. Since publishing my papers on the New England and 

 Canadian spiders in the Transactions of the Connecticut Acad- 

 emy from 1882 to 1894, I have had frequent calls for a smaller 

 and simpler book to meet the wants of readers who, without 

 making a special study of the subject, want to know a little 

 about spiders in general and especially those species that they 

 often meet with. It is hoped this book will answer the pur- 

 pose and help to lessen the prejudice against spiders, and lead 

 to a more general acquaintance with them, like the popular 

 knowledge of birds and butterflies. The characters used in 

 the descriptions are, as far as possible, those that can be seen 

 without microscopic examination and without much experience 

 in the handling of small animals. The illustrations, which show 

 the form and markings of every species, ate from my own 

 drawings and photographs, a large part of them made new 



for this book. 



J. H. EMERTON. 

 April, 1902. 



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