THE DRASSIDJS. 



665 



This spider is more than half an inch in length, and is found in tolerable plenty in the 

 south of England, its beautiful colours rendering it very conspicuous. The adult female 

 is pale green, with some darker stripes painted, as it were, upon the upper surface of the 

 cephalothorax, and all drawn from the sides towards the centre ; while along the middle 

 of the abdomen runs a deep green streak, edged with greenish white. The male, who is 

 smaller than his mate, has the whole front of the body coloured like that of the female. 

 But the abdomen is totally different. The ground colour is pinky cream, speckled with 

 brown, and three broad crimson bands are drawn longitudinally throughout its entire 

 length, the central band having several protuberances at intervals. 



THE family of the Drassidse is spread over the greater part of the world, and has many 

 representatives within the British Isles. They all have a rather remarkable habit of 

 concealing themselves, not in holes or crevices, but in silken cells, spun by themselves 

 among leaves, under stones, in chinks of walls, and, in fine, wherever their instinct leads 

 them. They are active creatures, and catch their prey by fair chase, in one instance even 

 pursuing the victim beneath the surface of the water. 



A. Clubidna holoserlcea. (Male.) 



B. Drassus cupreus. 



C. Drassus cupreus. (Nest in dried leaf.) 



D. Clubidna Twlosericea. (Female. 

 B. Drassus mteans. (Eggs.) 

 F. Drassus wiiccwis. 



G. ClotKo D*trdndii. 



The species shown at fig. B never attains to any great size, two-fifths of an inch 

 seeming to be the ordinary length of a female, the male, of course, measuring rather less. 

 It generally resides under stones in many parte of Great Britain, and but for that habit 

 would be seen oftener than is now the case. The cocoon of the female is pure white, and 

 contains rather more than one hundred eggs of a very pale yellow colour. The cocoon is 

 then placed in a larger sac, also made, of white silk, and placed in a hole in the ground. 

 The mother spider generally includes herself in this second sac. The colour is alike in 

 both sexes, being of a pale reddish brown. 



At fig. F is shown another species of the same genus, and at fig. E is drawn a portion 

 of a twig, showing the manner in which the female deposits her eggs. The reader will 

 probably have seen these curious little egg pyramids on the branches of various trees. 

 This species is very small, the male measuring barely the eighth of an inch in length. It 

 is rather prettily coloured. The limbs are buff, with a large patch of chocolate-brown on 

 the first two pairs. The cephalothorax is ruddy leaf-brown, with six white streaks, their 

 points converging to a spot in the central line. The abdomen is deep black in the shade, 

 but when the light shines upon it. various iridescent hues of purple, green, and copper 



