42 



THE COMMON SPIDERS 



Fig. 119. Attus palustris 

 enlarged six times. 



of hairs and color spots on the legs and head. At the mating 

 time some of the males have peculiar ways of approaching the 

 female, holding their legs extended sidewise or over their heads 



in such ways as to display their orna- 

 ments. These mating habits have been 

 well described by G. W. Peckham, who has 

 made a special study of this family, in the 

 Occasional Papers of the Wisconsin Natural 

 History Society, of Milwaukee, in 1889. 

 This family is largely represented in more 

 southern countries, and our species belong 

 to a great number of genera most of whose 

 members live farther south. 



Attus palustris. — Large females are 

 quarter of an inch long, the males a little 

 smaller. The cephalothorax is a quarter longer than wide, 

 shorter in proportion to its width than in the next species, 

 Saitis pnlcx, which it much 

 resembles. The two sexes 

 resemble each other in mark- 

 ings, but the females are lighter 

 and browner and the males 

 darker and grayer. The cepha- 

 lothorax has a narrow white 

 middle line, widened opposite 

 the dorsal eyes, and a shorter jjf 

 white line just below the eyes 

 on the sides (fig. 119). The 

 edge of the cephalothorax is 

 also white. On the abdomen FlGS - 12 °< I21 - Saitispulex.— 120, female. 



. 121, male. Both enlarged six times. 



the front middle spot is not so 



distinct as in pnlex, but in place of it are two white spots. 



Behind these is a large transverse light marking, sometimes 



