THE AERIAL WEB SPINNERS 169 



domen is high and pointed. The head of the male is ornamented 

 with a rounded horn between the eyes and another, more slender, 

 just in front, but that of the female remains normal. A related 

 species is Conopistha nephilae, a pretty black and silver spider 

 abundant in the South that favors the webs of the larger orb weav- 

 ers, notably those of the silk spider Nephila. The head of the male 

 is produced in two long lobes, of which the upper one bears the 

 four median eyes. A close relative called pluto lives in the webs of 

 the black widow spider in northwestern Mexico. Another common 

 species, Conopistha cancellata, has an elongate, triangular, gray or 

 brownish body marked with a few silver spots and set with paired 

 lobes on the side and at the end of the abdomen. The head of the 

 male is produced in a rounded lobe on the clypeus, above which 

 are two pits. This spider resembles a piece of bark or a dead leaf 

 when lying in the web of an orb weaver or of a grass spider. 



Typical comb-footed weavers place complete reliance on a maze 

 of dry lines, sticky droplets, and films from the lobed glands to 

 ensnare insects. A few theridiids, on the other hand, have been 

 able to divorce themselves from silk as the only means to capture 

 prey. These spiders are small, comparatively flattened types, with 

 legs of moderate length. They live under stones, in moss and leaf- 

 mold, and move over the soil and vegetation with great speed. 

 Little is known about them, but they seemingly hunt their prey as 

 do the hunting spiders, and spin no formal webs. At least two 

 genera from North American fauna, Stemmops and Euryopis, be- 

 long to this series, but mention will be made only of the latter 

 group, which is widely distributed and represented by numerous 

 species. 



The species of Euryopis, which resemble in a superficial way 

 some of the crab spiders, have heart-shaped abdomens pointed be- 

 hind and covered with a dorsal shield set with long setae. Our 

 commonest eastern species is Euryopis funebris, a handsome black- 

 ish spider one-eighth inch long, whose abdomen is bordered with a 

 silvery white stripe. Several species of similar pattern occur in the 

 South, and prominently in the western part of our country. An- 

 other series of species, which includes Euryopis argentea, is nearly 

 black and has the abdomen pointed with four to six pairs of small 

 silvery white spots. A very similar species is Euryopis spinigerus, 

 orange or brown with a more distinct dorsal shield and more con- 

 spicuous curved bristles. 



The spiders of the genus Hadrotarsus, known from the Aus- 



