FOSSIL SPIDERS 383 



111 the case of some species, when the male had won the con- 

 sent of his mate, he would weave a small nuptial tent or weh, 

 into which he would partly lead and partly drive the female, 

 who no longer offered serious resistance. 



Fossil Spiders. 



About 250 species of fossil spiders have been discovered. Of 

 these about 180 are embedded in amber, a fossil resinous sub- 

 stance which exuded from ancient coniferous trees, and quantities 

 of which are annually washed up from the Baltic upon the shores 

 of northern Prussia. 



The most ancient fossil spider known was obtained from the 

 argillaceous slate of Kattowitz in Silesia, and belongs, therefore, 

 to the Carboniferous strata of the Palaeozoic epoch. It has been 

 named Protolycosa anthrocophila. There is some doubt as to 

 the affinities of this spider. Eoemer, who described it, placed 

 it among the Citigradae, while others have thought it to belong 

 rather to the Territelariae. Thorell, on account of its agreement 

 in certain important points with the very curious recent Malay 

 spider Liphistius, has placed them both in a separate sub-family, 

 Liphistioidae. To the same epoch belongs the American fossil 

 spider Arthrolycosa antiqua, which was found in the Coal-measures 

 of Illinois. 



The other localities from which fossil spiders have been 

 obtained are the Swiss Miocene at Oeningen, the Oligocene de- 

 posits at Aix, the Oligocene of Florissant, Colorado, Green Eiver, 

 Wyoming, and Quesnel, British Columbia. 



Many of the spiders from the rocks are so fragmentary that 

 it is impossible to decide with certainty on their systematic 

 position, but a considerable number of them — more than half — 

 have been assigned to recent genera. 



The amber spiders are mostly well preserved, and can be 

 classified with more certainty. Many of them are surprisingly 

 like existing forms, though others, like Archaea paradoxa, differ 

 greatly from most spiders now extant, though they show some 

 affinities with one or two remarkable and aberrant forms. 



