THE AGALENID/E 



99 



torn and tangled. Old webs are repaired and extended until 

 they become as thick as cloth with silk and dirt. The tube is 

 generally smaller and less funnel shaped where it enters the 

 web than that of Agalena. The web is not as flat as that of 

 Agalena, curving usually down from the 

 tube and up in front of it, often turning 

 up abruptly at the edge. Sometimes it 

 is fastened up in the middle of the 

 front edge and curves downward each 

 side (fig. 232). 



Fig. 231 shows a web of the most 

 common form in the corner of a cellar, 

 with the spider standing at the mouth 

 of the tube, and the remains of egg 

 cocoons hung up at the left. This 

 web was at least a year old, and the 

 front edge had just been extended with 

 clear and transparent silk, while the 

 middle was black with coal dust. 



Fig. 232 is another web in the same 

 cellar, with the front edge fastened up 

 to the boards above. It is drawn 

 tightest in the middle and curves 

 down on each side. /^ 



Tegenaria (Caelotes) medicinalis. — A 

 large gray spider living in the woods, 

 among rocks, in hollow trees, and under 

 loose bark. It is half an inch long, with 

 the legs of the female not much longer 

 (fig. 233). The head is large and wide, 



and the eyes cover a little more than half its width. It is a 

 little constricted in front of the legs and raised above the 

 thorax as far back as the dorsal groove. The abdomen of 



233 



Figs. 233. 234. 

 Tegenaria medicina- 

 lis. — 233, adult 

 female enlarged 

 four times. 234, 

 cephalothorax of 

 young female to 

 show spots. 



