THE LINYPHIAD^ 



The Linyphiadae consist of a great number of species of small 

 spiders living, for the most part, in shady woods, among the 

 lower branches of plants, under leaves, and in caves and cellars. 

 They differ from the Therididag generally in having the body 

 more elongated, the legs stouter and with more spines, the 

 mandibles larger and stronger and furnished with teeth around 

 the claw, and the maxillae straighter and not inclined inward 

 toward the labium. There are two groups among them, — Liny- 

 phia and its allies, which are comparatively large and some of 

 which live in the open woods, with large cobwebs, and Erigone 

 and its allies, which are all very small spiders, living mostly in 

 short grass, dead leav^es, and moss. The latter usually have 

 narrower bodies and stouter legs, resembling the Drassidae. 

 Their colors are generally plain and dull, and the females are 

 difficult to distinguish from each other, while the males often 

 have peculiar modifications of the head and proportionally very 

 large and complicated palpi. 



The webs usually have a large flat sheet, supported by threads 

 above and below, under which the spider lives. Some species 

 have the sheet of web curved upward or downward. LiiiypJiia 

 marginata forms a dome-shaped web four or five inches in 

 diameter. 



THE GENUS LINYPHIA 



These spiders vary in size like the species of Theridium, from 

 a quarter of an inch to a tenth of an inch long. In appear- 

 ance they differ greatly from Theridium ; the cephalothorax is 



134 



