BRITISH SPIDERS. 



83 



CASE hair or garments, and are rather difficult to be brushed away from 

 the adhesiveness of the thread by which they hang. 



There is another genus named Neriene, that comes next to 

 this, and is similar to it in appearance, and has similar habits — 

 also one named Pachygnatha, which is of a brighter colour (red- 

 dish-fawn), and is distinguished by having very thick diverging 

 mandibles. 



Family EPEIRID^. 



Facsimile of web of Epeira diademata. 



The Epeiridse are the hump-backed, globose looking spiders that 

 are usually found in gardens, often watching in the centre of a 

 radiating geometrical web placed vertically. Many of them are 

 very beautifully marked on the back of the abdomen. Their web 

 differs from that spun by any other spider. The thread consists of 

 an elastic spiral line, thickly studded with minute globules of 

 liquid gum, whose course is crossed by radii converging to a 

 common centre, which is immediately surrounded by several 



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