SPIDERS. 543 



its waist, by wliich they were leading it about tlie house as they would a dog." 

 The amount of valuable scientific and general information collected by 

 Bates during his eleven years of travel on the Amazons was very ex- 

 tensive, and it is much to be regretted that though part was published in his 

 book, and in various essays shortly after his return to England, a great deal 

 must have died with him. 



The TheraphosidcB also include smaller spiders, which construct nests in 

 the ground provided with a round trap-door, which fits down over it in such a 

 manner as to completely close and conceal it. Trap- 

 door spiders are plentiful in many parts of tlie 

 world, including South France ; but our only British 

 representative of the family, Atypns suheri (Latr.), 

 constructs a tubular gallery in the ground, about 

 half an inch in diameter, in which the female de- 

 posits her eggs, but which is not closed with a trap- 

 door. The spider itself is about half an inch in 

 length. 



Turning now to the remaining spiders, it will, 

 perhaps, be sufficient t(3 illustrate them by noticing a 

 few of the more interesting and representative groups 

 and species. 

 _, _. . . The Salticidce, or hunting-spiders do not construct 



Twice nat. size. " ^ web, except as a resting-place at night or when 

 moulting their skins, and as an egg- 

 sac, but capture their prey by leaping on it, connecting Hunting- 

 themselves, however, with the spot they have quitted by Spiders, 



drawing out a thread behind them as they leap. The 

 cephalothorax is arched, and they have eight eyes. Their legs are 

 rather short and stout. Several species, both British and foreign, re- 

 semble ants, a resemblance which is probably protective to them- 

 selves rather than designed to mask their approach from their prey. 



The Lycosidce, or wolf-spiders are similar in some of their habits to the last 

 family, but generally pursue their prey by running, not by leaping. 

 Their cephalothorax is arched, but narrowed in front. They have eiglit eyes 

 arranged in three or four transverse rows, and their legs are long and hairy. 

 The egg-pouch of the female is carried about with her attached to the end of 

 her body till the young hatch, when they climb on her back. Some species 

 carry their egg-sac in their mandibles. 



To this family belongs the famous spider Lycosa tarentula (Linmieus), the 

 bite of which was supposed in Italy to produce a fit of melancholia, that 

 could only be cured by the tune known as the Tarentella. 

 The nests of some of these spiders are hardly less curious Tarantula, 

 than those of the trap-door spiders; that of a North American 

 species, ij/cosa arenicola (Scudder), figured in Comstock's " Manual for the 

 Study of Insects," p. 41, makes a structure resembling a high bird's-nest, or 

 small turret, over the entrance to the tube. Some of the Lycosidce fre- 

 quent water, and are able to pursue their prey on or in it ; and Dolumedes 

 fimbriatiis (Clerck) actually constructs a small raft on which it sails about. 



The Thomisidce, or crab-spiders, have small eyes arranged in two rows, 

 and long sprawling legs, like those of a crab. Their colours are usually pro- 

 tective, being grey or brown in the case of tree-frequenting species, and 

 green or yellow in the case of those which conceal themselves in flowers. 



