?93 



ON THE SNARES OR SNAP-NETS OF THE 

 AMERICAN AND EUROPEAN TRIANGLE SPIDERS 



(HVPTIOTES CAVATUS AND H. PARADOXUS), 



H. WALLIS KEW, F.Z.S., 



London ; formerly of Louth, Lincolnshire. 



The present paper, which does not record personal observations, 

 attempts to bring- together certain somewhat scattered informa- 

 tion concerning- the spinning habits of the spiders of the genus 

 Hyptiotes , creatures whose triangular snap-nets present, without 

 doubt, one of the most remarkable types of spider's snare as yet 

 known. 



Of the two well-recognised species, Hyptiotes cavatus* belongs 

 to America, and H. paradoxusj to Europe. Both are small incon- 

 spicuous animals; and are apparently attached, chiefly, to woods 

 of fir and pine trees. H. paradoxus is widely distributed in 

 Europe, ranging from Stockholm to Milan, and occurring also 

 in England, France, Austria, etc. In this country, unfortunately, 

 little is known of it ; a single specimen was reported in 1863 

 from the North of England (Lake District of Cumberland),! and 

 this for a long time was the only evidence of the creature's 

 existence in these islands. || Within the last four years, however, 

 the Rev. O. Pickard-Cambridge (as that naturalist obligingly 

 informs the writer) has met with this spider in some abundance 

 in the New Forest ; and it is possible that the creature occurs in 

 suitable spots in many parts of the country. From its occurrence 

 in Cumberland and in Sweden, new localities for it are as likely 

 to be found in the North as in the South of England, and it 

 is hoped that the present compilation, by calling attention to the 

 creature, may lead to its discovery in Yorkshire or Lincolnshire, 

 or in other counties to which 4 The Naturalist' is devoted. The 

 American H. cavatus, which also ranges widely, is closely allied 

 to H. paradoxus, but the writer is told by Mr. Cambridge, who 

 possesses specimens of both, that the two are quite distinct. 

 Originally found by Hentz in Alabama, //. cavatus has boon 

 attentively observed by Professor Wilder in the neighbourhood of 



* Cyllopodia cavata ; Hyptiotes americanus. 

 t Mithras paradoxus. 



£ Blackwall, Notice of the capture of Mithras paradoxus in England, 

 Annals and Magazine of Natural History (3), XIII. (1864), pp. 435-6. 

 II See Cambridge, Spiders of Dorset, 1879-81, p. 533. 



1900 July .'. N 



