PKEFACE. 



change which ought to be explained. For further business notice those 

 interested therein are referred to the advertisement at the close of the book. 



The most agreeable part of a preface to an author is his acknowledgment 

 for kindly aid rendered by colaborers and friends. First of all, I express my 

 gratitude to Dr. George Marx, of Washington, for the friendly and 

 Thanks va ^ ua ble service which he has given me throughout many years. 

 With a rare generosity and singleness of eye to the advancement 

 of science, he placed at my disposal the Orb weavers in his notable collection. 

 Not only so, but on all occasions he has cheerfully and freely given me the 

 benefit of his advice and judgment. He has thus laid under lasting obliga- 

 tion, not only the author, but all who are interested in his work. I have 

 also to thank others, in different parts of the country, who have contributed 

 specimens and information. Among these are Professor and Mrs. George 

 W. Peckham, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, whose joint studies of the Attidse 

 have given to Araneology some of its most attractive and valuable chapters. 

 Messrs. Orcutt, Davidson, and Blaisdell, and the late Mr. John Curtis, of 

 California; Miss Rosa Smith, now Mrs. Eigenmann, and her mother, Mrs. 

 Louisa Smith, of San Diego,*California ; Professor Orson Howard, of Utah, 

 Mr. Thomas Gentry, of Philadelphia, and Messrs. Charles H. Townsend and 

 Nathan Banks, of Washington, have contributed material that has entered 

 into this work. Among European naturalists I am indebted to Mr. F. M. 

 Campbell, of Herts, England, for many courtesies ; Mr. Thomas Workman, 

 of Belfast, Ireland, and Mr. Frederick Enock, of London, have sent me 

 specimens. To Professor Waldemar Wagner, of Moscow, Russia, and Mr. 

 Eugene Simon, of Paris, I am especially indebted for copies of their valu- 

 able papers and books, and for permission to engrave and use some of the 

 figures with which they are illustrated. To the veteran araneologist, Pro- 

 fessor Tamerlane Thorell, whom I gladly acknowledge as " magister," I am 

 indebted for advice from time to time rendered. 



I add an expression of my obligations to one who, unhappily for the in- 

 terests of Science, no longer lives to prosecute his faithful and distinguished 

 labors, the late Count Keyserling, of Germany. His descriptions of American 

 Spiders have been of great service in determining indigenous species, and 

 many specimens personally examined and identified by him have pas'sed 

 through my hands in the course of these studies. The posthumous volume 

 of his noble work, " Die Spinnen Amerikas," Part IV., edited by Dr. Marx, 

 and which relates to the Epeiridse, was not issued until a large part of my 

 descriptions were already in print. For this reason some species here 

 appear as new which are described by him in his last work, and have 

 priority, inasmuch as their publication antedates my own. The names, how- 

 ever, are the same, inasmuch as the specific titles given in litteris by Count 

 Keyserling to the examples in Dr. Marx' collection have been preserved by 

 me. These discrepancies I have corrected as far as possible in the plate 

 titles. 



