SPIDERS 151 



an obscure legend that Cardinal Wolsey, who simply could not 

 abide spiders, had a particular aversion to this species which was 

 all too plentiful at Hampton Court and is still popularly known as 

 the 'cardinal spider'. 



The third sub-order, Araneomorpha, includes the most special- 

 ised spiders and comprises the majority of living species which 

 exhibit a greater range in structural variation and in habits than 

 any other order of Arachnida except, perhaps, the Acari. In the 

 elaboration of complex instincts and habits they are unexcelled. 

 The plane of articulation of the chelicerae to the cephalothorax is 

 horizontal so that the mandibles point downward, the fangs closing 

 obliquely inward. These spiders are classified in families according 

 to structural characters which are often correlated with the 

 methods employed in the capture of prey. Thus the Dictynidae 

 and Uloboridae coat their meshed webs with a bluish, sticky sheet 

 of flocculent silk produced by a flat spinning organ or 'cribellum' 

 lying close in front of the usual six spinnerets. The cribellum may 

 be likened to the fused spinning fields of two spinnerets lying 

 nearly flat against the ventral surface of the abdomen and is always 

 accompanied by an accessory comb of hairs called the 'cala- 

 mistrum' upon the metatarsi of the hind legs. The spider spins its 

 composite hackled band by rubbing the calamistrum back and 

 forth over the cribellum, drawing out two ribands that are attached 

 to two lines of normal silk coming at the same time from the 

 spinnerets. The Oonopidae, Dysderidae and Scytodidae are six- 

 eyed nocturnal hunting spiders. Although the number of eyes is 

 not such a fundamental character as was once thought, it is still a 

 convenient diagnostic feature. 



The members of the Gnaphosidae and Clubionidae are mostly 

 nocturnal species that move stealthily as they feel for their prey 

 with front legs outstretched. The Gnaphosidae are ground spiders 

 of sombre coloration with few contrasting markings, the dull greys, 

 browns and blacks deriving from a covering of short hairs that 

 gives them a velvety appearance. More flattened than the Clubion- 

 idae, they differ from the latter in having the anterior lateral 

 spinnerets widely separated. The Anyphaenidae and some Club- 

 ionidae live on plants, have well-developed claw tufts and are good 

 climbers. Mostly whitish or brownish in colour, they dwell in flat 



