234 



ANNUL AT A. 



Habits. 



the male is smaller and of more delicate build. The colour 

 varies considerably in shades of brown, but is 

 always mottled in blotches and irregular mark- 

 ings of white. The most characteristic of these is a 

 T-shaped white mark on the abdomen, followed by two or 

 more large white dots. The legs are barred. 



Epeira diademata lives in the centre of its vertical web. 

 usually head downwards. The web is commonly suspended 

 between branches of a shrub. 



The body is constricted by a *' waist " into an anterior 



smaller part called the cephalothorax^ and a large posterior 



globose part, the abdomen. Neither part shows 



any external indications of segmentation and 



the abdomen is soft to the touch. The 



abdomen bears no appendages but the cephalothorax 



has six pairs. The anterior of these are called the 



chelicerce. They are two-jointed, and the distal joint is 



in the form of a sharp curved stylet connected with a 



Fig. 155.— The Two 

 First Pairs of Appen- 

 dages OF Epeira Dia- 

 demata. {Ad 7iat. ) 

 Magnified. 



^land in the proximal joint. 

 The second pair are the pedipalpi 

 or feelers; they appear like a pair 

 of short legs and really function as 

 arms. The basal joint is formed 

 into a kind of jaw and the terminal 

 joint in the adult male is modified 

 into a swollen "palpal organ" for 

 transferring the sperms into the 

 seminal receptacle of the female. 

 The next four appendages are legs^ 

 many - jointed and covered with 

 numerous hairs. 



The spider, therefore, differs from 

 the insect in having no pre-oral ap- 

 pendages or antennae, and in pos- 

 sessing four pairs of legs instead of 

 three. 



The mouth is a minute ventral aperture between tlie two 

 chelicerae and the anus is at the tip of the abdomen. 

 Immediately in front of the anus is a swollen process which 

 is found to consist of four papillae or spinnerets^ at the 

 tip of each of which there is a great number of minute 



Pedipalpi. 

 Note the non-chelate poison 

 fangs (chelicerae) and the fused 

 pedipalpi with long palps, also 

 non-chelate. 



