PREFACE. "i 
change which ought to be explained. For further business notice those 
interested therein are referred to the advertisement at the close of the book. 
The most agreeable part of a preface to an author is his acknowledgment 
for kindly aid rendered by colaborers and friends. First of all, I express my 
gratitude to Dr. George Marx, of Washington, for the friendly and 
2 ana valuable service which he has given me throughout many years. 
anks. ; ; 
With a rare generosity and singleness of eye to the advancement 
of science, he placed at my disposal the Orbweavers in his notable collection. 
Not only so, but on all occasions he has cheerfully and freely given me the 
benefit of his advice and judgment. He has thus laid under lasting obliga- 
tion, not only the author, but all who are interested in his work. I have 
also to thank others, in different parts of the country, who have contributed 
specimens and information. Among these are Professor and Mrs. George 
W. Peckham, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, whose joint studies of the Attidee 
have given to Araneology some of its most attractive and valuable chapters. 
Messrs. Orcutt, Davidson, and Blaisdell, and the late Mr. John Curtis, of 
California; Miss Rosa Smith, now Mrs. Eigenmann, and her mother, Mrs. 
Louisa Smith, of San Diego, California; Professor Orson Howard, of Utah, 
Mr. Thomas Gentry, of Philadelphia, and Messrs. Charles H. Townsend and 
Nathan Banks, of-Washington, have contributed material that has entered 
into this work. Among European naturalists I am indebted to Mr. F. M. 
Campbell, of Herts, England, for many courtesies; Mr. Thomas Workman, 
of Belfast, Ireland, and Mr. Frederick Enock, of London, have sent me 
specimens. ‘To Professor Waldemar Wagner, of Moscow, Russia, and Mr. 
Eugene Simon, of Paris, I am especially indebted for copies of their valu- 
able papers and books, and for permission to engrave and use some of the 
figures with which they are illustrated. To the veteran araneologist, Pro- 
fessor Tamerlane Thorell, whom I gladly acknowledge as “ magister,” I am 
indebted for advice from time to time rendered. 
I add an expression of my obligations to one who, unhappily for the in- 
terests of Science, no longer lives to prosecute his faithful and distinguished 
labors, the late Count Keyserling, of Germany. His descriptions of American 
Spiders have been of great service in determining indigenous species, and 
many specimens personally examined and identified by him have passed 
through my hands in the course of these studies. The posthumous volume 
of his noble work, “ Die Spinnen Amerikas,” Part IV., edited by Dr. Marx, 
and which relates to the Epeiride, was not issued until a large part of my 
descriptions were already in print. For this reason some species here 
appear as new which are described by him in his last work, and have 
priority, inasmuch as their publication antedates my own. The names, how- 
ever, are the same, inasmuch as the specific titles given in litteris by Count 
Keyserling to the examples in Dr. Marx’ collection have been preserved by 
me. ‘These discrepancies I have corrected as far as possible in the plate 
titles. 
