422 CLASS ARACHNIDES. 



spread solitary threads to retain it, and conceal themselves in 

 clefts, or in leaves which they draw together to lay their 

 eggs in. 



Some have the body flatted, broad, the abdomen short, 

 widened posteriorly, and the four intermediate feet more elon- 

 gated. Such is \he Pliilodrmne tigre, (Thoinise Ugree, Lat., 

 Araneus margaritariiis, Clerck, VI, iii. SchoefF., Icon. Ixxi. 8 ; 

 Frisch., Ins., 10. centur. II. xiv. ; Aranea levipes, Lin.) This 

 species is three lines in length. Its two intermediate anterior 

 eyes, and the four lateral, are situated on a space a little more 

 elevated, and the lateral, according to the same naturalist, 

 are a little larger, or at least more apparent. The thorax is 

 very broad, flatted, of a reddish fawn-colour, brown laterally, 

 and posteriorly, and white in front ; the abdomen, which 

 appears to form a pentagon, is striped like a tiger, by means 

 of the red, brown, and vi'hite hairs, with which it is invested. 

 It is edged with brown on the sides, and has at the middle of 

 the back, four or six sunken points ; the belly is whitish ; the 

 feet are long, slender, reddish, with brown spots. 



This species is very common on trees, wooden partitions, 

 walls, &c., and sticks there with the feet extended, and as it 

 were glued- As soon as touched, it takes to flight with ex- 

 treme rapidity, or suffers itself to fall by unwinding a thread 

 which supports it. Its cocoon is of a fine white, and contains 

 about one hundred eggs, which are yellow, and not agglu- 

 tinated. It places it in the clefts of trees, or of posts exposed 

 to the north, and watches it assiduously. 



The other philodromi, which in the method of M. AValcke- 

 naer, form many small groups, have the body, and sometimes 

 the forceps, proportionally longer. The abdomen is some- 

 times pyriform or ovoid, sometimes cylindrical ; the second 

 pair of feet, and then the first or fourth, are the longest. 



AVe shall cite the Philodromus rhombiferus (Faun., Franc, 

 araneide, vi. 8, male). Its body is three lines and a half in 



