650 ARANEINA. 



"makes a tubular habitation of silk in crevices on old walls oi 

 rocks, throwing out an irregular web which is spread on the 

 wall or stone around the aperture. ... In walking it uses 

 the palpi like feet, and these organs are very long, particularly 

 in the male." According to Hentz it is found in South Caro- 

 lina and Alabama. 



The two genera Pholcus and Theridion belong to Latreille's 

 group, "Inaiquitelai," comprising those forms in which the 

 first pair of limbs are usually the longest. In Pliolcus the legs 

 are very long and slender. According to Hentz the species 

 are *•' sedentar}^, making in dark corners a Aery loose web of 

 slender threads, crossed in all directions. The eggs are col- 

 lected together without a silk covering, which the mother car- 

 ries with her cheliceres" (maxillary palpi). This genus "by 

 the extreme length of its legs resembles Phalangium. The 

 species belonging to it may be found in apartments seldom 

 visited, particularly churches and caves. They shake their 

 body when threatened by an enemy, but seem to have very 

 weak means of offence, and to feed on the very smallest prey." 

 P. Atlanticus Hentz inhabits the Southern States. 



In Theridion the four inner ocelli are larger than the four 

 outer ones, and the first and last pair of limbs are the longest. 

 Hentz states that the species are sedentar}-, forming a web 

 made of threads crossed in all directions, while the cocoons 

 are of various shapes. A majority of the species are very 

 small, and their webs made on the tops of weeds, in bushes, 

 or in retired corners, are familiar to every one. T. vnlgare 

 Hentz varies "from a cream white to a livid brown, or plum- 

 beous color. The cephalothorax is dull rufous, the abdomen 

 with various undulating lines, and the feet have more or less 

 distinct, dark or plumbeous rings." Heutz says that "there 

 is probal^ly no spider so abundant in the United States. It 

 makes an irregular web in somewhat retired corners, and usu- 

 ally in dark situations, but occasionally also in the open air." 

 It catches large insects and hangs them up to its nest. Hentz 

 says of the T. shidiostim which he has described, that "when 

 its web is destroyed it does not abandon its cocoon, which is 

 orbicular and whitish, and is placed in the central part of the 

 web. The mother then grasps it with her cheliceres, and de- 



