FAMILY THERIDIIDES. 



sHE spiders of this family»may bo characterized, generally, 

 ' as of small size, hut with the abdomen usually very 

 large in proportion, and often, especially in females, 

 globular, or nearly so, in form ; the legs, too, are slender, but 

 not often immoderately long. They are furnished with hairs, fre- 

 quently with bristles, and, in some groups, with spines, and tho 

 tormina! tarsal claws are three in number. The eyes aro in two 

 transverse curved rows, not very far distant from each other; but 

 tho four centrals nearly always form an almost square figure. 

 Their snare consists of either a thin, horizontal sheet of web, with 

 intersecting linos above and below, or else some irregular lines 

 crossing and re-crossing each other, and so forming a kind of 

 maze, in which thsir prey is entangled and their egg cocoons 

 placed. The spocios are very numerous, and among them are 

 some of the smallest known spiders, not exceeding in length the 

 twenty-fifth of an inch. Thoy are found in greatly diversified 

 situations, sometimes almost exclusively in buildings ; but usually 

 on plants, shrubs, and trees ; among grass and herbage of all kinds ; 

 under stonos ; among moss and dead leaves ; on all kinds of soil ; 

 and in marshy, as well as in dry places. The spidors usualty called 

 Gossamer spidors, those, that is, to which are duo the floating linos 

 and white flakes of web, so noticeable, especially on a warm, 

 bright September or October day, mostly belong to this family. 

 At that season, as well as in the spring-time of the year, the 

 young of these small spiders are exceedingly aeronautic in their 

 habits. 



