198 



THE COMMON SPIDERS 



young spiders, by a thick covering of silvery-white hairs. The 

 cephalothorax is covered with white hairs through which the 

 dark markings on the sides show indistinctly. The legs are 

 light yellow, with black bands at the ends and middle of each 

 joint. The femora of the first legs are sometimes entirely 



black. The young have the back entirely 

 white. The markings of the under side 

 are similar to those of riparia. The male 

 (fig. 456) is colored like the female, but is 

 only a fourth as large. The legs are yel- 

 low, marked with black spots, but have no 

 rings. It has the same habits as riparia. 

 It remains in its web later in the season, 

 and makes a cocoon flattened on the top 

 (fig. 458) instead of narrowed to a neck, 

 like those of riparia. 



This species often makes its web in 

 marsh grass, which it draws away and 

 fastens with silk (fig. 457). As the sur- 

 rounding grass becomes long and weak, 

 it sometimes falls away, leaving the web 

 in a basket of grass fastened firmly 

 enough together to remain standing. 



Figs. 455, 456. Argiope trans- THE GENUS TETRAGNATHA 



versa. — 455, female. 456, 



"wLT ° en arge ^he Tetragnathas are slender, usually 



straw-colored spiders, living in their webs 

 among the long grass in meadows and near water. The legs 

 are slender, the cephalothorax narrow, and the abdomen long and 

 cylindrical. The mandibles are large in both sexes, and in the 

 males are very long and furnished with long teeth at the end 

 and along the inner margin. When pairing, the male and 



