124 



THE COMMON SPIDERS 



being only a quarter as large as the female. This spider 

 makes its nest among loose stones, on plants, or in houses. 

 Around its hiding place it spins a large funnel-shaped tent 

 that widens into a flat or curved sheet of web, closer in 

 texture toward the tube and more open toward the edges, 

 spreading two or three feet over plants and stones. It is 

 found all over the United States, as far north as Massachu- 

 setts and New Hampshire and south through Florida, the West 



Indies, and South America, as far 

 as Chile. It is everywhere feared 

 as poisonous and dangerous, prob- 

 ably on account of its large size 

 and conspicuous colors, as there is 

 no good reason for considering it 

 more poisonous than other spiders. 

 Argyrodes trigonum. — A little yel- 

 low triangular spider, with a high, 

 pointed abdomen (fig. 292). Large 

 females measure an eighth of an 

 inch from the head to the spin- 

 nerets and nearly as much from 

 Fig. 296. Web of Argyrodes trigonum , soinnercts to the tin of the 



between two maple leaves. In the ^'^'^ SpmnereiS LO LUe Lip VL UlC 

 middle of the web are two egg cocoons abdomCll. ScCU frOm aboVC, the 

 and above them the spider. . , , , . Tin 



end of the abdomen is a little flat- 

 tened and notched in the middle (fig. 293). In the female 

 the part of the head around the eyes is slightly raised and the 

 lower part of the front of the head carried forward a little 

 beyond it (fig. 294). In the males there are two horns on the 

 head, one between the eyes and one below them (fig. 295). 

 The color is light yellow, sometimes with a metallic luster, as 

 though gilded. On the back of the cephalothorax are three 

 light brown stripes, and sometimes there are dark spots at 

 the sides of the abdomen and over the spinnerets. The legs 



