98 



Giiide to Ai'achuida. 



Table-case turns upon him with murderous intent during 



^°' ^^" courtship, as female spiders commonly do. 



Some of the tropical Argiopidae {Gasteracanilta, 

 et..) ave the ibdumen hardene ( and armed with 

 long spines. It is believed that these are of ad- 

 vantage to the spider by rendering it unpalatable 

 to birds. The male of GastcracantJia, which is 

 much more retiring in its habits than the female, 

 is not furnished with spines. Eemarkable illustra- 

 tions of protective resemblance are afforded by 

 some of the species belonging to this family, 

 as, for instance, the Ehodesian species known 

 as Cacrostris corticosa. In colour and general 

 appearance this spider harmonizes with the bark 

 of the common Ehodesian thorn-tree, on which it 

 is commonly found, and its abdomen is furnished 

 with processes resembling the thorns with which the tree is beset 

 The Argiopidae are cosmopolitan in distribution. 



Tarsal-comb of 

 the fourth leg of 

 Tlieridion tepida- 

 riormn. 



Magnified. 

 (After h\ 0. Pick- 

 ard-Cambridge.) 



Fam. — Tlieridiiclae. 



These spiders differ but little in 

 structure from the Argiopidae, but 

 may be readily distinguished from 

 them by the structure of the fourth 

 leg, the terminal segment of which 

 bears a comb of setae (fig. 63). 

 A few of the species are remarkable 

 in that they construct no web. The 

 family is very numerous in species, 

 and has a wide distribution. 



The genus Lathrodcctus is, per- 

 haps, the most noteworthy of the 

 Theridiidae. Several of the species 

 have the reputation of being ex- 

 tremely poisonous, and numerous 

 accounts of the effects of their 

 bite have been pubUshed. The 

 abdomen in the poisonous species 

 is marked with conspicuous i-ed stripes or spots. A coloured draw- 

 ing of the well-known European species {Lathrodectus tredecim- 

 guttatus) is exhibited in Table-case 23. 



Fig. 64. 

 A Theridiid Spider 

 (Lathrodectus tredecim - gutta- 

 tus), X 2. 



