si mm e-gossip. 





AN INTRODUl HON TO BRITISH SPID1 

 B) I' i: >\k Peri \ Smi mi. 



Bl FORI proci eding with a system 

 , spiders, it "ill be as well to giv 

 in adopted. 



I hi i irdi i \ !"■ , or ti rs, is divided 



into a numbei "i group milv I til 



. ,! various groups "I this character, 



but these, being founded i hieflj on the positi i 



the eyes, are not so much at variance as one might 

 .,! modi in research seems to 

 be to increase the number of these families, ab n 



1 . I . 



n the male 



arc the p ilpal organ i, lh cubital lints "I 



Ipi, with their apophyses when present, and in 



the height of the 



■ Up ii-.. and 



the female is :i very good sp iracter, as is 



often the case with I nticulations. 



With regard to the family Theridiidae, the forma- 

 tion "i genera is a mattei ol ureal difficulty, owing to 

 the similarity existing between the numerous sp 

 As the matter now stands, il is m i lessa choice 

 h .v. in the few genera o! Blackwall, and the multi- 

 tude adopted by Continental arachnologists. I shall 

 not, in iliis list, retain any .il Blackwall's genera, as has 

 been done by the Rev. O. P. Cambridge in "The 

 Spiders of Dorset," although these are better known 

 here. It is my opinion that by complicating thi^ 

 family with genera based on microscopic details, one 

 puts a very considerable difficulty in the way of 



Fio. III. British Spiders. 

 Typical arrangement of eyes in families. 



forms being removed from the position originally 



; hem. and new families formed lor their 

 reception. 



The families are further sub-divided into genera, 

 and here very obvious difficulties arise. There are 

 many differences which may he regarded as generic 

 characters, and the trouble seems to he that of 

 lining which of these is of the greatest 

 importance. The position ol thee; My very 



typical, but, in the m<.si intricate family, namely 

 caput of the male is often of a most 

 rj form, while that of the female is of the 

 normal shape. The relative length of the leg>, and 

 the foi maxillae and labium are usually 



ded as important generic indications, but many- 

 other differences are often taken into account. 



Fig. IV. Amaumbius similis. 

 laic eyes in front. Radial apophysc. Vulva. 



is. We must not lose sight of the fact that 

 species, after all, are the only real existing thinf. ; 

 that genera are an arbitrary arrangement for con- 

 venience in classification. What seems to be most 

 needed in the study of the Araneidea i- a complete 

 of accurate drawings .if the more important 



