The Crab Spider 185 



Nor is the second name of onustus — loaded, 

 burdened, freighted — any too happily chosen. 

 The fact that the Bee-huntress carries a heavy 

 paunch is no reason to refer to this as a dis- 

 tinctive characteristic. Nearly all Spiders have 

 a voluminous belly, a silk-warehouse where, in 

 some cases, the rigging of the net, in others, the 

 swan's-down of the nest is manufactured. The 

 Thomisus, a first-class nest-builder, does like 

 the rest : she hoards in her abdomen, but with- 

 out undue display of obesity, the wherewithal to 

 house her family snugly. 



Can the expression onustus refer simply to her 

 slow and sidelong walk ? The explanation ap- 

 peals to me, without satisfying me fully. Ex- 

 cept in the case of a sudden alarm, every Spider 

 maintains a sober gait and a wary pace. When 

 all is said, the scientific term is composed of a 

 misconception and a worthless epithet. How 

 difficult it is to name animals rationally ! Let 

 us be indulgent to the nomenclator : the diction- 

 ary is becoming exhausted and the constant 

 flood that requires cataloguing mounts inces- 

 santly, wearing out our combinations of 

 syllables. 



