GENERAL CLASSIFK.'ATION AND STRUCTURE. 



19 



Fig. 4. Saltigrade 

 Spider, Epible- 

 nium scenicuni 

 Clerck. 



II. 



The propriety of beginning the series of spiders with the Orhweuvers has 

 been generally recognized by authors. Perhaps some have liad no better 



reason than that whieh popularly associates this group with the 

 Formr "'^™'? spider; but others have thought that tlie higliest forms 



in the order Aranetc are really included within the Orbitelariis. 

 The suggestion of Thorell can hardly be allowed that the more artistic 

 construction of web shows higher development of instincts 

 in Epeiroids than in other families of the order. Surely the 

 nests of some Lineweavers, as Theridium riparium and Liny- 

 phia marginata ; of such Citigrades as our Turret spider, 

 Lycosa arenicola Scudder ; and such Tunnelweavers as our 

 California trap door spider, Cteniza californica Cambridge, 

 show a grade of instinct quite as high as that of the Orb- 

 weavers, and which, moreover, as it seems to me, exhiljits a 

 wider range of voluntary' action and variation than the more 

 mechanical spinning of a geometric web. With greater justice Thorell, 



when siieaking to the point of structure alone, disallows the 

 Thorell's i. o i i 



^. claims of the Orbweavers to the highest position in their order. 



If we consider (he says) as we reasonably ought to do, more 

 the liarmonious development of the body's various parts, the superior de- 

 velopment of the organs of sense, and such like, we see that the Epei'roidae, 

 with their weak cephalothorax and heavy abdomen, 

 their slow and clumsy motions, and tlieir compara- 

 tively small eyes, are surpassed by more than one of 

 the other families usually looked upon as lower. The 

 Lycosoidce are distinguished by their well j^roportioned 

 forms, their powerfiiUy developed cephalothorax, Ijy 

 the quickness and force of their movements, and 

 highly developed organs of sight. 



The Attoidffi also, as may be easily remarked by 

 a casual observer in the little striped, jumping spider 

 (Epiblemum scenicum) familiar around all 

 our rural and suburban homes, have a strik- 

 ing expression of intelligence. This may be 

 an optical effect solely due to the peculiar eyes and 

 nervous jerking action of the animal, but certainly 

 Fig. 5. Tubeweaving Spider, Qj^g jg gtrongly reminded thereby of the "expression" 



Gnapnosa vanegata Hentz. ^ -^ ^ ^ 



(Mar.^, del.) Much magni- of the Hymeuoptcra, as auts and wasps, the most 



^^'^' * highly developed of the order of insects. 



As regards the other reasons adduced to support the preeminence of 



the Ejjeiroids above all other spiders, such as the number and beauty of 



the species, the small number of transition forms, etc., they hold equally 



true of the Attoids. These form a unit cjuite as close, compact, and rich 



The 

 Attoidee. 



