THE THERIDIIDJE. 175 



into a dirty and shabby-looking material, curled and twisted into the semblance of an exceedingly 

 loose, irregular, open network of extremely fine threads, usually supported upon a straight line of 

 greater strength. This fine, loose material clings with remarkable tenacity to whatever it touches. 

 The eggs of Giniflo atrox, a common British species, are placed, to the number of about seventy, in a 

 loose white silk cocoon of plano-convex figure, which is attached to the inner surface of an oval cell, 

 composed of curled silk, disfigured on the outside by fragments of dirt of various kinds. The species 

 of Eryatis, two or three of which occur in Britain, live generally upon heath and furze, the extremities 

 of the twigs of which they surround with a loose, whitish web serving for the capture of their small 

 prey, while, at the proper time, the female conceals within this web, upon which the remains of her 

 victims are hanging, two or three lenticular cocoons, with from ten to thirty eggs in each. 



The Common House Spider, and some allied forms, constitute the last sub-family of this group, 

 that of the AGELENIDES, which are generally rather large, powerful Spiders, with the legs and usually 

 the hindmost spinnerets long, and the eyes nearly always in two curved rows with the concavity 

 forward. Under the common name of the House Spider are apparently included at least two species, 

 Tegenaria doniestica and T. civilis, the former rather more and the latter less than half an inch in 

 length of body. There is considerable resemblance between them, but the legs of T. doniestica 

 are a good deal longer in proportion than those of T. civilis. With regard to the latter species, it 

 has been ascertained that both sexes change their skin nine times, once within the cocoon and 

 eight times after quitting it ; that they live for four years, and the female after a single 

 impregnation can produce nine batches of prolific eggs ; and that limbs removed at the coxa 

 will be reproduced six times at the succeeding changes of skin. The habits of the two 

 species are very similar. They inhabit old neglected buildings, outhouses, &c., taking up their 

 abode in the corners formed by walls, roofs, and rafters, where they spin a more or less horizontal 

 sheet of web, from which many fine lines are given off to adjacent objects both above and below, 

 while, in the most sheltered part of the corner, it communicates with a short tubular cell in which the 

 Spider resides. The eggs are deposited in lenticular cocoons of white silk, each again enclosed in a 

 silken bag, the outer surface of which is disguised by morsels of plaster and other rubbish. 



The species of Agelena, several of which are found in Britain, live out of doors in woods and 

 heaths, but they also produce a sheet-like web, furnished with a cylindrical tube for the Spider's 

 dwelling-place. The commonest species (Agelena labyrinthica) is found generally upon heaths and 

 waste ground, where its large cobwebs are often striking objects upon the heath and furze. The 

 cocoons of the female are lenticular, contain from 50 to 120 eggs, and measure nearly half an inch in 

 diameter ; there are usually two of them, and these are enclosed in a large sac of compact white silk,, 

 to the interior of which the cocoons are attached by silken lines so compacted 

 together as to have been compared to short pillars. The cocoons or their 

 containing sac are often disguised with dii-t, as in the case of the House Spider. 



FAMILY VI. THERIDIID.E. 



This is a very extensive family of Spiders, usually of small or moderate 

 size, having the abdomen generally large in proportion to the cephalothorax, 

 and of a broadly ovate form, especially in the females, and the fore legs usually 

 the longest of all. The eyes are arranged in two transverse rows, but some- 

 times in part elevated upon tubercles or other processes of the upper surface of 

 the cephalothorax, and the tarsi have three claws at their extremity, fre- 

 quently associated with others of very minute size. The species of this family 



J w THERIDION NERVOSUM. 



are most numerous in temperate climates, and the greater number of the 



known forms belong to the Eastern Hemisphere. Many of them are adorned 



with elegant patterns, and display considerable variety of coloration. They inhabit the foliage of 



trees and shrubs, herbage, clefts and cavities in rocks and walls, and the interior of buildings, and are 



sometimes to be found under stones on the surface of the ground. In the more exposed situations 



they generally construct irregular snares, composed of fine threads crossing each other in all directions, 



whence the name Incequitelce has been applied to the family. 



The females deposit their eggs in cocoons of various forms generally attached to some object. 



