GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AND STRUCTURE. 19 
Il. 
The propriety of beginning the series of spiders with the Orbweavers has 
been generally recognized by authors. Perhaps some have had no better 
reason than that which popularly associates this group with the 
name spider; but others have thought that the highest forms 
in the order Aranez are really included within the Orbitelariz. 
The suggestion of Thorell can hardly be allowed that the more artistic 
construction of web shows higher development of instincts 
in Epeiroids than in other families of the order. Surely the 
nests of some Lineweavers, as Theridium riparium and Liny- 
phia marginata; of such Citigrades as our Turret spider, 
Lycosa arenicola Scudder; and such Tunnelweavers as our 
California trap door spider, Cteniza californica Cambridge, 
show a grade of instinct quite as high as that of the Orb- Meee aah 
weayers, and which, moreover, as it seems to me, exhibits a mum scenicum 
wider range of voluntary action and variation than the more 
mechanical spinning of a geometric web. With greater justice Thorell, 
when speaking to the point of structure alone, disallows the 
claims of the Orbweavers to the highest position in their order. 
If we consider (he says) as we reasonably ought to do, more 
the harmonious development of the body’s various parts, the superior de- 
velopment of the organs of sense, and such like, we see that the Epeiroide, 
with their weak cephalothorax and heayy abdomen, 
their slow and clumsy motions, and their compara- 
tively small eyes, are surpassed by more than one of 
the other families usually looked upon as lower. The 
Lycosoide are distinguished by their well proportioned 
forms, their powerfully developed cephalothorax, by 
the quickness and force of their movements, and 
highly developed organs of sight. 
The Attoide also, as may be easily remarked by 
a casual observer in the little striped, jumping spider 
(Epiblemum scenicum) familiar around all 
our rural and suburban homes, have a strik- 
ing expression of intelligence. This may be 
an optical effect solely due to the peculiar eyes and 
nervous jerking action of the animal, but certainly 
Pe nies aia Spd one is strongly reminded thereby of the “expression” 
(Marx, del.) Much magni- Of the Hymenoptera, as ants and wasps, the most 
Bea highly developed of the order of insects. 
As regards the other reasons adduced to support the preéminence of 
the Epeiroids above all other spiders, such as the number and beauty of 
the species, the small number of transition forms, ete., they hold equally 
true of the Attoids. These form a unit quite as close, compact, and rich 
Highest 
Forms. 
Thorell’s 
Views. 
The 
Attoidee. 
