MEMOIRS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 57 



NOTES ON SPIDERS FROM CAVES IN KENTUCKY, VIRGINIA, AND INDIANA. 



The following remarks and descriptions, by J. H. Emerton, are copied from the American 

 Naturalist, vol. ix, May, 1875: 



The collection of cave spiders contained about one hundred specimens of eleven species. Two species were 

 found only about the months of caves. These are Theridion vulgare Hentz, a spider found all over the country in 

 shady places, and Metu menardi, which has been found in similar situations in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, 

 and resembles JEpeira fusca Black wall. One young spider allied to Tegenaria was taken in Fountain Cave, Virginia> 

 aud four specimens of a species of the same family were found in small caves in Carter county, Kentucky ; all were 

 immature except one female, and none showed any subterranean characters. The remaining six species, all belong- 

 ing to the Theridioidie, were found in considerable numbers in the larger caves, where there is little or no light and the 

 climate is little affected by outside changes. One species of Linyphia from Weyer's Cave, Virginia, has the eyes of 

 the normal size and number, and the colors and markings of some specimens are as bright as on spiders of the same 

 family living in cellars or shady woads. The other five species are all pale in color and show some unusual condition 

 of the eyes, three species having the front middle pair very small, one having all the eyes small and colorless, with 

 the front middle pair wauting in the males aud some females, aud one species being entirely without eyes. Follow- 

 ing are descriptions of the last six species: 



Nesticus pallidus n. sp. (PI. XV, figs. 22 to 27). — Cephalothorax and legs pale orange-brown, abdomen yellowish- 

 white, with brown hairs. Length of female 3.5 mm . Cephalothorax 1.5 mm long and nearly as broad, little elevated in 

 front; three liues of hairs from the eyes to the dorsal pit. Front middle eyes black and half as large as the others, 

 nearly touching each other; rear middle eyes separated from each other by their diameter and from the front middle 

 eyes by half that distance; lateral eyes in pairs, separated from the middle eyes by half their diameter. Mandibles 

 half as long as the cephalothorax. Maxillae and labium short and wide. Palpal claw long and slender, with six 

 teeth along the middle. Legs 1, 4, 2, 3; first pair, 10 mm ; second, 8.25 mm ; third, 8.15 mm ; fourth, 9.G mm ; thinly cov- 

 ered with long hairs and without spines. Tarsal claws long and slender, the lower with two teeth, the upper with 

 nine or ten. Epigynum (Fig. 27) ; the sacs showing through the skin in some specimens. The only male taken had 

 not finished molting and was much distorted by the alcohol. The palpus which had cast its skin is shown in Fig. 2G ; 

 the penis is raised from its natural position, which is in a groove passing spirally round the end of the palpal organ 

 to a fleshy conductor. A long process, with two teeth at the end, branches from the base of the tarsus. 



Fountain Cave, next to-Weyer's, Virginia, among stalactites where there was no daylight. Several loose cocoous 

 were found, one containing thirty or forty youug just hatched (Packard). 



Nesticus carteri n. sp. (PL XV, fig. 28). — Cephalothorax aud legs light yellow, hairs shorter than in N. pallidus. 

 Abdomen in some specimens with indistinct gray markings. Eyes smaller and farther separated from each other than 

 in X. pallidus. Epigynum (Fig. 28). This species is otherwise much like N. pallidus. Bat Cave, Zwingle'sCave, Carter 

 county, Kentucky (Packard). A cocoon collected by Mr. Packard from Bradford Cave, Indiana, contains young 

 which had passed their second molt, probably of this species. 



Linyphia sublerranea n. sp. (PI. XV, figs. 29 to 31). — Cephalothorax and legs yellowish-brown ; in some specimens 

 reddish. Abdomen white, with brown hairs; in two specimens from Zwingle's Cave gray, with white spots. Eyes 

 eight (Fig. 30), white, surrounded by a dark border; in one specimen colorless, without dark borders. Front middle 

 eyes very small, and in the two dark specimens from Zwingle's Cave obscured by-dark markings on the head. 

 Mandibles with seven teeth in front of the claw-grooves. Legs short 1, 4, 2, 3; spines on patella and tibia. Under 

 claw of tarsus with two teeth, the upper claws with eight or nine; no claw on palpi. Epigynum external, as long 

 as the maxilla}, extending backward along the under side of the abdomen (Figs. 29 to 31), or when the abdomen is 

 distended projecting out from it at a right angle. 



Under stones in Carter and Wyaudotte caves (Packard). 



Linyphia weyeri (PI. XV, figs. 7 to 12).- Cephalothorax and legs yellow-brown, abdomen from dark gray to white. 

 Length of female 2.25 mni . Cephalothorax wide aud but little elevated in front in either sex. Front middle eyes near 

 each other on a black spot, rear middle eyes separated by their diameter and by the same distance from the front 

 middle eyes, lateral eyes in pairs, each pair surrounded by a black area and distant twice its width from the middle 

 eyes. Mandibles long, spreading apart at the tips, and inclined backward toward the maxillae, beyond the ends of 

 which they extend a third of their length in the female aud farther in the male; five long teeth in front of the claw- 

 groove. No palpal claw. Legs 1, 4, 2, 3; first pair 4 n,m long in female aud 4.4 11 " 111 in male, with two spines on 

 femur, one on patella, and two on tibia. Under claw of tarsus with one tooth, upper claws with nine or ten teeth. 

 Epigynum with an oval opening behind twice as wide as long, iu front of which is a short flexible appendage (Fig. 

 11). Palpus of male, Figs. 9 aud 10. The tarsal process is a small hook on the upper side ; the penis is long, and passes 

 one aud a half times around the palpal organ, supported through nearly its whole length by a wide thin conductor 

 ending in a hard tooth. Under the cud of the penis is a soft brush-like appendage, aud beside it two hard processes. 



Weyer's Cave, Virgiuia, in darkuess, but not far from the entrance (Packard). 



Linyphia incerta a. sp. (PI. XV, figs. 13 to 21). — Length 2 mm . Cephalothorax and legs orange-brown, abdomen 

 white, with short, fine, brown hairs. Cephalothorax l mm long and two-thirds as wide; in the male elevated in front 

 (Fig. 20) and furnished with longer hairs than in the female. Eyes small and colorless, and separated far from each 

 other (Figs. I8 # and 21); the front middle pair are very small, hardly larger than the circles around the bases of the 

 hair by which they are surrounded, and only distinguished from thein by wauting the dark rim which surrounds 

 the hair circles In five females from Fountain Cave all the eyes are present (Fig. 18); in one female one of the front 

 middle eyes is wauting. In three males from the same cave both front middle eyes are wauting, as in Fig. 21; in 



