352 



ARACHNIDA ARANEAE 



complexity in the nature of the silk used. It is interesting, 

 liowever, to find that viscid globules, not unlike those which stud 

 the " spiral line " of the Epeiridae, are sometimes present in the 

 snares of the Line-weavers/ and in these, too, aggregate glands are 

 present. There is a large spider of this family, Theridion tepid- 

 ariorum, which may be found to a certainty in almost any hot- 

 house in this country. In its snare, which is of the ordinary 

 irregular type, F. Pickard-Cambridge has observed little patches 

 of flocculent silk, calculated to render more certain the entangle- 

 ment of prey, and he has further described a curious comb-like 

 structure on the hind leg of the animal which is probably used 

 in the production of this phenomenon. It is by no means unlikely 

 that a more careful study of these apparently simple snares will 

 lead to the discovery of further complexity of structure. 



Ulohorus, a cribellate genus which has an Epeirid-like, 

 orbicular snare, decorates some of the lines with the produce 



of the cribellate glands, 

 but viscid globules are 

 absent. 



Sheet -Webs.— The 

 webs which are such 

 familiar — and, by asso- 

 ciation, unpleasant — 

 objects in unused rooms 



Fi(i. 193.— Snare of Uhhnrus sp., some of the lines and OUthoUSes are usu- 

 ally the work of spiders 

 belonoinf;^ to the Ag;elen- 

 idae and the Dictynidae. To the first l)elongs the common 

 House -spider, Tegenaria civilis, and its larger congener, T. 

 2Jarietina. These spiders are not attractive in appearance, and 

 the last-named species especially, with the four-inch span of 

 its outstretched legs, is a formidable object, and a terror to 

 domestic servants. An obscure tradition connecting it with 

 Cardinal Wolsey and Hampton Court has caused it to be known 

 as the Cardinal Spider. An out-door example of the Agelenidae 

 is the very abundant Agelena lahyrinthica , whose sheet-wel), with 

 its tubular retreat, is to lie sought on the banks of ditches, or in 

 the hedges of our country lanes. 



being thickened with threads from the cribelhii 

 (After M'Cook. 



' M'Cook, American Spiders and their Spinning Work\ i., 1889, ]>. 351 ; F. 

 Pickard-Cambridge, /. Micr. and Kat. Sci. July 1890. 



