148 



THE COMMON SPIDERS 



gray or black, with five or six transverse light markings, usu- 

 ally in the male and often in the female broken into pairs of 

 spots (fig. 355). The abdomen is high in front and a little 

 pointed behind (fig. 354). The epigynum (figs. 356, 357) has 

 two flexible processes, one over the other, extending backward, 

 the tip of the inner one extending beyond the outer. The 

 tarsus of the male palpus (fig. 356) is short and truncated, with 

 its tube twisted in a circle around the end. It lives under 

 leaves in winter. 



THE GENUS ERIGONE 



The Erigones are all very small spiders, and for this reason 

 few of them will be described. They live, for the most part, 

 near the ground in grass, moss, and dead leaves, with small 



Fig. 359. Web of Erigone dentigera among stems of grass close to the ground. 



About the real size. 



webs like those of Linyphia, and are seldom seen unless care- 

 fully searched for. There is one season of the year, however, 

 when the Erigones appear in immense numbers. This is 

 during the fine weather that comes after the first frosts in 



