676 



EYES OF SPIDERS. 



of the web and lowering himself quickly to earth with his silken ladder. This creature is 

 called the Cross -spider,, because the back of its abdomen is marked with a triple yellow 

 cross upon a dark brown band that runs along the central line of the body. 



IN this illustration we have examples of some remarkable spiders, one of which 

 presents -a very strange appearance. This is the NOPS, an arachnid which has only two 

 eyes instead of eight or six, but in which these organs are so enormously large that their 

 dimensions compensate for their paucity of number. On the front portion of the cephalo- 

 thorax there is a black spot, and on this spot are seated the two eyes, round, globular, 

 black, and brilliant. It is one of the hard-skinned species, and appears to be allied both 

 to Gasteracantha and Epeira, in spite of its two eyes. 



It is mostly found under stones in woods, and in such localities is tolerably plentiful, 

 out is very rare in houses, though it does sometimes make its appearance in the dwellings. 

 The colouring of the Nops is very simple, the cephalothorax being ruddy brown and the 



Giianabf>c6ir. 



Otiothops Wcticktnturi. 



Dysdern e.rytJirma 



abdomen dark brown. It is not a large species considering that it lives in a hot country, 

 measuring rather less than half an inch in length. It is believed to be the only known 

 spider that possesses only two eyes. This species is an inhabitant of Cuba. 



On the same illustration is seen another remarkable arachnid, the OTIOTHOPS, which 

 is especially notable from the fact that its two hinder eyes are united together. This spider 

 is a native of Cuba, and is generally found under stones in well- wooded places, and, like 

 the last-mentioned species, has a hard and shelly skin. In length it is rather under hali 

 an inch. 



WITH the exception of the curious spiders just mentioned, the species which have 

 been described bear eight eyes, or rather ocelli, very like the organs of the same name in 

 insects, and arranged upon the cephalothorax in various patterns. One well-known writer 

 on the Arachnida has based his system entirely upon the number and arrangement of these 

 ocelli ; but the zoologists of the present day seem to think that such a system is insufficient 

 for such a purpose, though very useful and, indeed, palpably so as a subordinate means 



