676 EYES OF SPIDERS. 



forms by flinging himself out 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 ab- 

 domen 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 cephalothorax 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, 

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

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



Nops Guanabocote. 



Otiothops Walckeaacria. 



Dfsden erythrlna. 



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

 try, 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 epecially 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 half 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 on 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 purpose, though very useful and, indeed, palpably so as a subordinate 



