SPIDERS. 585 



varies very little throughout its entire length, that portion of the 

 body is very solid and heavy. The color is deep chocolate-brown, 

 curiously marked with circular dots of bright yellow, and farther 

 diversified with stripes of the same color, especially over the fore 

 part of the abdomen. Two bold yellow bars are also drawn 

 transversely across the under surface of the abdomen. The tho- 

 rax is deep brown, and clothed with short hairs of grayish-yellow, 

 set so densely that the dark color of the thorax can not be seen 

 without close inspection. There are, however, three black squared 

 spots on each side, and a black spot occupies the centre. The 

 .animal is armed with a formidable pair of poison-jaws, of a deep 

 shining black, at the ends of which the curved fangs are benf in- 

 ward like the venomous teeth of the rattlesnake. On the front 

 of the thorax, and looking directly forward,' are the eight eyes, 

 the four smallest being arranged closely together in the centre, in 

 the form of a square, and the four largest being set on bold promi- 

 nences so as to form a largei oblong, in the centre of which is the 

 square. 



The limbs are of considerable length. The first pair of legs, 

 which are the longest, measure two inches and a half in length, 

 and the expanded second pair measure four inches and* a half. 

 The most remarkable point about the spider is the peculiarity 

 from which it derives its name. The first, second, and fourth 

 pairs of legs are adorned with dense hairy tufts, the first pair hav- 

 ing two tufts each, and the others only one. The third pair of 

 legs are much shorter and smaller than the others, and are desti- 

 tute of tufts. As the legs themselves are bright yellow-brown 

 and the tufts are deep black, the contrast of color is very bold and 

 agreeable to the eye. The entomological reader may perhaps 

 remember that social exotic beetles are also decorated with tufts 

 upon their antennae and limbs. Of the curious spherical spider- 

 nests, with their black cross-bars, nothing is known except the 

 mere fact of their existence. They are about as large as full-sized 

 black currants. 



In the following illustration three most remarkable nests are 

 given, .all of them the work of hymenopterous insects, and all 

 serving in some degree to illustrate the hexagonal system of cell- 

 building, so common among the Hymenoptera. 



Of these, perhaps, the central figure is the most interesting, 

 because it entirely sets at rest a question which is periodically 



