420 AEACHNIDA 



S. variegatus (Hentz) {Fig. 659). Length 6 mm.; cephalothorax 

 bright orange in color and smaller than the abdomen, which is black 

 with 3 white stripes: on the ground. 



Family 6. PHOLCIDAE. 



Eyes either 6 or 8 in number; legs very long, with 

 3 claws on each of the 3 hinder pairs: 6 American 

 genera. 



Pholcus Walckenaer. Three large eyes in a group 



on each side of the head and 2 smaller 



eyes in the middle; abdomen elongate; 



cephalothorax flat: 2 American species. 



ser'itlus ^' Plialangioides (Fuesslin) (Fig. 



(imlnon) ^^^^' ^^^y ^ ^^- ^^^^'' longest legs 5 l_\^ / 



cm. long; color pale brown or gray: a 



common house spider both in America and in Europe, 



living in cellars, and making a large, flat, irregular web. 



Family 7. THEEIDIIDAE.* 



Usually small, light-colored spiders with a large 



round abdomen; eyes of about the same size, in 2 rows, ^^f-,^^^ 



' "^ . Pholcus 



with the end eyes near together and the middle eyes phaiangimdes — 



^ , carrying its 



farther apart; outer margin of mandibles Darallel (ex- egg sac 



^ " (Comstock), 



cept on Steatoda) ; 3 claws on each leg : web often large, 



more or less irregular in form and loose in texture, and built in the cor- 

 ners of rooms, on fences and rocks, and between the branches of Ioav 

 trees and bushes, the spider usually staying in the web; about 300 

 American species. 



Key to the genera of Theridiidae here described : 



fli Abdomen smooth and shiny, the hairs being very short 1. Steatoda 



02 Abdomen hairy- 

 hi The paired claws of the legs with a regular series of teeth almost to their 



tip 2. Lathrodectus 



62 These claws with spreading teeth at their base. 



Ci Abdomen with a high, pointed hump 3. Argyrodes 



C2 Abdomen not with a hump. 



di Labium and sternum united 4. Spintiiarus 



do Labium not united with the sternum. 



Ci Anterior row of eyes curved 5. Theridula 



62 Anterior row of eyes straight 0. Tjieridion 



1. Steatoda Sundevall. Abdomen oval, smooth, and shiny; side 

 eyes contiguous; those of the anterior row much larger than the middle 



* See "New England Spiders of the Family Theridiidae," by J. H. Binerton, 

 Trans. Conn. Acad., Vol. C, p. 1, 1882. 



