NOTES ON ARCHITECTURE UF AUSTRALIAN! ARANEID.^ — RAINBOW. 23 



is captured in the wel) of one of these spiders, the owner imme- 

 diately shakes the snare violently in order to secure its i)rey. 

 When irritated or disturbed they will gyrate rounfl and rcjund 

 most rapidly, usually describing circles from right to left. When 

 I'esting in the web, they invariably hang body downwards, as illus- 

 trated in the figure (fig. 3) ; 

 occasionally they may be de- 

 tected resting in a vertical 

 position, in which case the 

 usual posture is head down- 

 wards. The eggs are held 

 together in an agglutinated 

 spherical mass ; sometimes 

 the}' are covered with silk. Fit'. 3, rkolcus /itoralis, L. K. 



The female carries the mass of ova with the falces, and always 

 approximated to her sternum ; nor will she for one moment relin- 

 ([uish lier burden until the spiderlings have hatched out. The 

 eggs includefl in the splierical mass are numerous, and are usually 

 of a whitish-yellow tint. 



These spiders may sometimes be collectetl from under over- 

 hanging rocks, in rock-shelters, and in the hollows of trees. 



In 1877, Mr. H. B. Bradley erected the genus Micromeri/>:, for 

 the reception of a species collected by the " Chevert" Expedition 

 at Cape Yoi^k. The genus, however, is widely distributed. Simon 

 gives its geographical area as " Africa occid. ; ins. Madagascar 

 {marjagascfo-ensifi, E. 8im.) ; ins. Philippine (rirnilfiyrmift, E. 

 Sim.); Nova-Hollandia septr. {(/raei/is, Bradl.) ; America trop.; 

 Venezuela (conica., E. Sim., etc.).'"^ 



J/, (jracilis, Bradl., is long and cylindrical, being about 8 mm. 

 ]ong and 1 mm. broad, witli excessively long and thin legs. 



Psilochorus, Sim., occurs in "America sept, et merid. : India 

 orient; Oceana."' In this genus also, (jnly one species is known 

 to occur in Australia — P. sph(eroides, L. K. It was placed by its 

 author in the genus Pholcus, but Simon has removed it to Psilo- 

 choriiK. This species occurs at Rockhampton. Nothing has been 

 recorded of its life habits. 



Family THERIDIID^. 



This family includes upwards of seventy genera, and an 

 immense number of species. Of the genera recorded at least 

 a dozen ai'e known to occur in Australia, and one in Tasmania. 

 These spiders are also sedentary, and foi"m a group by themsehes 



* Simon — Loc cit., p. 474. 

 ^ Simon — Loc. cit., p. 482. 



