9G 



Guide to AracJuiida. 



Fam. — Afi/piihie. 



Table-case The two genera (Ati/piis and CaJommata) which compose this 

 No. 22. family differ from the Aviculariidae and Ctenizidae in possessing 

 a large maxillary process upon the l^ase of the palp. The chelicerae 

 are not usually furnished with digging spines. 



The genus Atypus has a wide distribution, occurring in 

 Europe, North Africa, Japan, Burma, and Java ; whilst Calommata 

 is found in Japan, Burma, the Sunda Islands, and West Africa. 



The only Mygalomorph spider 

 which occurs in this country (Ati/pus 

 affi)iis) belongs to this family. It is 

 found in the South of England, the 

 Channel Islands, and also in Ireland, 

 and many places on the Continent. 

 The nest of this spider consists of a 

 long burrow, excavated in the ground, 

 and lined throughout with web. This 

 lining is continued beyond the surface 

 as a long closed tube, which is either 

 attached to some object near at hand 

 or lies loosely on the' surface of the 

 ground; when flies or other insects 

 alight on it they are seized from within 

 by the spider, and pulled through the silk, the rent thus made 

 being repaired afterwards. Similarly, the male enters the burrow 

 by biting a hole in the wall of the tube. 



A number of the external tubes of the North American purse- 

 web spider {Atj/jnis abbot i), which are spun against the trunk of a 

 tree, are exhibited in Wall-case 7. 



Fic4. 61. 



Atijpua affinis. 



Wall-case 



No. 7. 



Table-case 

 No. 23. 



Tribe ii. — Arachnomorphae. 



In these spiders the outer branches of the anterior pair of 

 spinning appendages and both the outer and inner branches of 

 the posterior pair are present, the inner branches of the anterior 

 pair being often represented by a perforated spinning-plate (the 

 " cribellum ") or by a membranous lobe (the " colulus "). In the 

 spiders in which the "cribellum" is present, the penultimate joint of 

 the fourth leg is always furnished with a series of curved hairs. The 

 chelicerae project downwards. The posterior pair of pulmonary' 

 sacs is replaced (except in the genus Hypochilus) by tracheal tubes, 

 the stigmata of which may be situated immediately behind those of 



