CLASS HI. AKACHKOIDA. 125 



by communicating with the threads of tlie large net, both gives her 

 intelligence when any thing touches the web, and enables her to pass 

 quickly in order to seize it. 



Genus 12. AGELENA. Walckcniier, Leach. 



Maxillce straight and longitudinal, their internal angle slightly tnm- 

 cate ; diameters equal, apex rounded : lip not longer than broad, to- 

 wards the superior angle a little narrower : legs moderately long, the 

 anterior and fourth pairs of nearly equal length, the third pair 

 shortest : eyes disposed in two transverse lines neat to each other, 

 and bent backwards. 



Sp. 1. Ag. lahyrinthka. Griseous pale-reddish : thorax on each side 

 with a blackish longitudinal line : abdomen black, above and on 

 each side with white oblique Imes forming obtuse angles, running 

 together anteriorly in pairs; the weaving appendices or nipples 

 conic, elongate. 



Inhabits the fields. It is very common in most parts of Europe during 

 the summer months. In Britain it is most abundant in the au- 

 tumn. It spins a horizontal web on the ground, in which it watches 

 for its prey, consisting of flies and other dipterous insects. The 

 spider itself lives in a funnel-shaped cavit}-, often extending below 

 the surface of the ground. 



Genus 13. ARGYilONETA. Lutreille, Wakkenaer, Leach. 



MaiUU short, straight, elongate quadrate, the sides of nearly equal 

 diameters ; anteriorly convex ; die apex rounded : lip short, shotter 

 than tlie maxilla' ; of a narrow elongate-triangular form ; the ante- 

 rior aspect convex ; the apex obtuse or truncate : legs, the first, the 

 fourth pair longest; the second pair shortest: eyes with the four 

 middle ones forming a quadrangle, tlie t%vo on each side set obliquely 

 and subgeminated. 



Sp. 1. Arg. uquatica. Blackish-brown: abdomen black velvety, with 

 some impressed dots on its back. 



Aranea aquatica. Linn., Fubr. Argyroneta axjuatica. Latr., Walck., 

 Leach. 



Inhabits Europe, frequenting slow running waters and ditches, spin- 

 ning a wdb most beautifidly constructed under the water, in which 

 it lives, being surrounded with air, which shines through the water 

 with a silvery lustre. The eggs are deposited in a globose silky 

 bag. It is extremely conmion in most of the ditches round Lon- 

 don, and may be observed, especially in the beginning of the sunij 

 mer, building its nest beneath the water, or rimning along the lines 

 by which it is suspended. 



$Trap9 2. — Legs simple : hinfier eyes not placed ori the anterior and 

 superior of the thorax, nor forming an irregular hexagon : nipples 



