400 



ARACHNIDA ARANEAE 



CHAP. 



FIG. 206. 



(After Simon.) 



(_Enyo) includes about thirty-five species of rather small, generally 

 imicolorous spiders, very active and fond of the sunshine. They 



spin no web, but have a retreat 

 under a stone. Their chief prey 

 appear to be ants. Most of the 

 species are native to the Medi- 

 terranean region, the others belong- 

 ing to Central and Southern Asia. 

 Simon includes in this family 

 the remarkable genus Cryptothele, 

 found in Ceylon, Malacca, New 

 Guinea, and various Oceanic 

 islands. They are moderate sized 

 brownish spiders, with hard in- 

 teguments rugged with tubercles 

 and projections. Their most curi- 

 ous characteristic is their power of 

 retracting their spinnerets within 

 a sort of sheath, so that they 

 become entirely invisible. 



Fam. 20. Hersiliidae. This is a very distinct family of 

 spiders, with broad cephalothorax, with well-marked fovea and 

 striae, and small, well defined caput. The eyes, usually eight, are 

 black except the median anterior pair. The legs are long and 

 thin, and the tarsi three- 

 clawed. The abdomen 

 is oval or sub-globular, 

 short haired, and gener- 

 ally of greyish colora- 

 tion. The spinnerets 

 supply the chief charac- 

 teristic, the posterior pair 

 1 icing long --often ex- 

 cessively long and two- 

 jointed, the terminal joint 

 tapering and llexible. 

 The colulus is large. 

 They are very active 

 spiders, living on tree trunks or walls, or under stones, but 

 spreading no snare. Some of them are of considerable size. 



Fiu. '207. Hci-*ili<i caudata, 9 . (After Pickunl- 

 Cambridge.) 



