20 



A.MKKILAX Sl'IDEKS AND TIIKIIl SriXXINGWOKK. 



Lycosids. 

 Iiulccil 



ill species as tlie Epei'roids ; in l)rilliuiicy ami variety of colors tliey sur- 

 pass both these and other families of sj^iders, and may even he comiiared 

 witli the sliowy families of Coleoptera.^ 



Great as is the weight wliich this justly distinguisiied arnchnologist car- 

 ries toward tlic Attoids, 1 am inclined, in consideration of Imtli instincts 

 and structure, to place the Lycosids at the head of the order. 

 Superior- 'pi,,, organization of this family is, to say the least, but little 

 inferior, if at all, to that of the Attoids; and in their si>iiming 

 habits T have no hesitation in {)ronouncing them to be suiterior. 

 the Haltigrades are by no means remarkable for their spinning- 

 work, in this respect scarcely equaling the 

 Tubeweavcrs, perhaps the lowest of the 

 spiders. The Citigrades, however, exhibit 

 most interesting industries ; and especially 

 in the personal care of their young, from 

 tlie egg cocoon to the period when tlu' 

 spiderlings can shift for themselves, tin- 

 Lycosids seem to me to show a higher 

 order of instinct than the Attoids, certainly 

 one as high. The whole subject, however, 

 is one which in- 

 cludes difticulties 

 too numerous and 

 serious to allow a 

 full discussion in 

 these pages. 



The Orbweavers liave their nearest rela- 

 tions in the Lineweavers, wliose snares of 

 netted lines are familiar in the 

 Orbweav- .^jjgigg ^f q^j. houses, forming 



largely the domestic " cobwebs." 



Li most cases the two tribes can 



be distinguished by a jiracticed 



eye by the general form. But they can 



Fig. 6. Citip-ade Spider, Lyeosa" scutulata UlOSt easily bc Separated tllUS : The EpcV- 



(Marx, del.) X 2. roids havc a low forehead, not transversely 



impressed ; fium the margin of the clypeus to the middle front pair of 

 eyes the distance is less, or at any rate not greater than the distance be- 

 tween the middle front and middle rear eyes. In the Itetitelaria', on the 

 contrary, the distance from the margin of the clypeus to the middle front 



Fig. 7. Lineweaving Spider, Therid- 

 ium tepidariorum. (Marx, del.) 



ers and 



Line- 



■weavers. 



eyes is greater than that from the middli' front to tjic inidillc ivar eyes. 



' I'Airopean Spi<U>i-s, page 40. 



^ Tliere are exceptions in the ca.se of some Epei'roiil iiiali^s witli stroiiL'Iy iirojectinir fore- 

 head, and in tlie genus Tapinopa, among the Ketitelari:i'. 



