24 J. H. Emerton — New England Therididae. 



of the abdomen varies in length and shape, and is usually shorter in 

 the young; seen from above the tip is tvvo-lobed. The back of the 

 abdomen is usually nearly straight, hut it can be turned down- 

 ward, as in Fig. 1, This is done when the spider is alarmed. The 

 abdomen is light yellow, sometimes with a metallic luster. There is 

 often a black spot each side and behind over the spinnerets, and some- 

 times the sides are reddish brown. The legs are yellow, covered 

 with fine hairs. The thoi-ax is yellow, sometimes with three brown 

 bands that nearly cover it. The head of the female is high ; the part 

 bearing the eyes slightly raised and separated by a notch Irom the 

 ])art over the mandible, which is somewhat farther advanced than 

 the eyes. Fig. 1. In males each of these divisions of the front of the 

 head gives rise to a horn. Fig. Ic. The males are darker colored and 

 have the abdomen smaller and less angular than females. The mid" 

 die eyes in both sexes are far apart. Fig. IJ, as is usual in spiders 

 where the males have middle horns. The e})igynum is dark brown 

 and much raised. The palpal organs are sinn)le and Tlier'ulion-\(k^^ 

 Fig. \d. 



These spiders live amoug the the upper threads of the webs of 

 Aguleua^ TAnyplda and Theridium, and are most common in woods 

 of ]nnes and spruce. They look, in the web, like straws, or still more 

 like the scales from pine buds, which are often caught in the same 

 webs. I have seen them, however, in small webs, apparently made 

 by themselves. When alarmed they draw the feet up close to the 

 body and curl the abdomen under. The cocoons are of a peculiar 

 bottle-shape, Fig. le, as described by Hentz, and are found in the 

 borrowed webs in August. I have not seen them disturbed or 

 noticed by the makers of the webs. 



I have them from Eastport, Me.; New Haven, Conn.; and from 

 Albany, N. Y., and they seem to be common wherever I have col- 

 lecled in summer. Tiie young are found in winter under leaves. 



Argyrodes fictiliuin, 



Iheridmi ficlilium Hentz, Boston Jonrn. Nat. Hist., vol. vi. 

 Plate V, figures 2, 2a. 



This is a much more slender species than trigonum. The cei)halo- 

 thorax is 1""" long, the abdomen 4""", in the largest specimen. The 

 fourth legs are as long as the body, the first i)air longer. The 

 general color is light yellow. The abdomen is silvery and lias a dark 

 stripe on the back, wide at the forward end and tapering behind to a 

 fine line. Tlie thoi'nx has three ii-regular blackish lines, the middle 



