326 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



to which the reader is referred. The specimens were all near neighbors, 

 exposed to the same influences of habitat, food, sunlight, etc., and most 

 of them were taken from bushes of the same plant. 



They were all domiciled in nests of clustered leaves or of single leaves 

 rolled and sewed together. Let us examine some of these specimens, all 

 of which are females, as we pluck them from their homes, and note their 

 colors. Beneath this nest is a spider whose feet are black and whose 

 legs are white, ringed with black at the feet and around the joints. The 

 body too is white, with only here and there faint black lines bringing 

 out more distinctly the trifolium markings. In the next bush is another, 

 differing from the first only in the fact that the annuli of the legs are 

 brown instead of black. Here is another (Plate I., No. 1), pale yellow 

 on the abdomen, deepening into orange towards the spinnerets under- 

 neath the body. The trifoil markings on the abdomen are very faint, 

 indeed, scarcely distinguishable. The legs are a pale, transparent yellow, 

 with red brown rings at the joints. Another specimen (No. 2) resembles 

 No. 1, except that the front of the abdomen is orange below and greenish 

 yellow at the top, the face being light brown. This spider is drawn in 

 the position which it usually assumes when sitting in its nest, or when 

 it rests upon a branch, with the knees bunched up against the abdomen. 

 Still another specimen (No. 3) is dark yellow brown on the dorsum of 

 the abdomen, growing into a deep chocolate at the sides and under- 

 neath ; the trifoil patterns and spots on the abdomen are chalk white. 

 The legs are orange with brown. The next specimen (No. 4) is drawn 

 as viewed from underneath, the abdomen and sides showing there dark 

 orange, with crimson stripes through the centre and yellow hues along 

 the sides. The legs have deep orange rings on transparent pale yellow. 

 Still another (No. 5) is colored yellow, the top of the abdomen deep- 

 ening into yellow brown along the sides and beneath, and has the out- 

 lines of the trifolium spots distinctly marked and of a pale yellow. Two 

 short, greenish, longitudinal bars mark the tip of the abdomen. The legs 

 are pale yellow with brown rings. 



In the next specimen (No. 6) the trifoil spots are yellow on a green- 

 ish yellow abdomen, the latter deepening to orange on the sides and be- 

 neath. The legs have dull brown rings. Yet another specimen 

 Straw- j s o f a bright strawberry tint, the abdominal patterns being a 

 erry bright yellow, the legs yellow with red brown rings. It is a beau- 

 tiful object, certainly, as it lies bunched up in the palm of one's 

 hand, and no one looking upon it could deny that spiders are sometimes 

 attractively clothed. Still another specimen (No. 9) has the dorsum of 

 the abdomen orange, which deepens to crimson red below and at 

 Male ^ e s ^ es ' an d h as light yellow trifoils and spots. The legs are 

 white, with dark brown rings at the joints. A male, Figs. 10 and 

 11, which we find in the nest of one of the females, is colored yellow, the 



