! 460 
ARACHNIDA. 
The second section of the sedentary and rectigrade Spiders — that of the Inequitel^ or Spinning ; 
Spiders {Araignees filandieres), has the external spinnerets nearly conical, very slightly exserted, - 
convergent, arranged in a rosette, and the legs very slender. The maxillae incline towards the tongue, 
and are narrow at the tip, or at least are not dilated. The majority have the first pair of legs, and 
then the fourth, the longest ; the abdomen is larger, softer, and more coloured than in the preceding 
tribes. They construct webs with irrregular meshes composed of threads, which cross in all directions J 
and different surfaces. They whirl threads round their prey, take great pains in the preservation of 
their eggs, and do not leave them until they are hatched. They live but a short time. 
Scytodes, Latr., has only six eyes, arranged in pairs, and the ungues of the tarsi are inserted upon a supple- 
mental joint. S. thoracica, Latr., inhabits the interior of our apartments ; another species, /S. rubescem, M'as 
found by Dufour in the mountains of Valencia. It fabricates an irregular tube of slender texture, of a milky- 
white, like that of Dysdera erythrina. 
Theridion, Walck., has eight eyes thus arranged, four in the middle in a square, the two anterior ones placed on 
a protuberance, and two on each side, also placed on an elevation common to both ; the thorax is like a reversed 
heart, or nearly triangular. The species are very numerous. Type, Aranea \Z-guttata, Fabr., Rossi.— Found 
in Tuscany and the island of Corsica. Its bite is considered very venomous, and even mortal.*— (See the Tableau 
and the Histoire des Araneides of Walckenaer ; the Annales des Sci. Natur., and the Ann. des ScL Physiq.) 
A. mactans, Fab., an American species, is similarly dreaded. These fears seem more to originate in the black 
colour of the animals, which are marked with blood-coloured spots. T. benigivum, Walck., takes up its abode in 
bunches of grapes, and thus defends them from the attacks of other insects. 
Epirinus, Walck.,— has also eight eyes, but which are placed close together upon a common elevation of the 
narrow and subcylindric thorax. E. truncatus, Latr. Pai'is, Italy. 
Pholcus, Walck., — has the first and then the second legs the longest ; the eyes, eight in number, are placed upon 
a tubercle, and arranged in three groups, one on each side composed of three eyes placed in a triangle, and the two 
others in the middle, in a transverse row. Ph. Phalangioides, Walck., has the body long and very narrow, of a 
very pale livid colour ; abdomen very soft, and marked above with blackish spots ; legs extremely long and very 
slender, with a white ring at the tip of the thighs and tibiae. It is common in houses, where it spins a web 
composed of loose threads in the angles of walls. The female gums her eggs into a rounded naked body, which it 
bears about in its jaws. Dufour found another species in the crevices of rocks in Valencia. Like the preceding, 
it balances itself backwards and forwards upon its very slender feet. 
The third section of the sedentary rectigrade Spiders is that of the Orbitel^, or the Araignees 
tendeuses of some authors, having the external spinnerets nearly conical, slightly exserted, convergent 
and arranged in a rosette, the legs slender, and the maxillse straight or sensibly widened at the tip ; ; 
the first pair of legs, and then the second, are always the longest. The eyes are eight in number, and i 
thus arranged, — four in the middle in a square and the two others on each side. They resemble the Ine- 
quitelse in the size, softness, varied colours of the abdomen, and shortness of their lives ; but they make 
their webs with regular meshes, arranged in concentric circles crossed by straight radii extending from 
the circumference and meeting in the centre, where the insects remain stationary and in a reversed 
position. Some species secrete themselves in a cavity or cell which they construct near the edges of 
the net, wdiich is sometimes horizontal and sometimes perpendicular. The eggs are agglutinated 
together, very numerous, and inclosed in a large cocoon. The threads which support the web, and 
which stretch to about a fifth their length, are used for the divisions of the micrometer, an astronomical 
instrument, as wt learn from M. Arago. 
Linyphia, Latr., has four of the eyes in the middle, forming a trapezium widest behind ; the two hinder eyes 
being larger than the rest, and the four others, arranged in two pairs, one on each side and in an oblique direction. 
Tlie maxillae are dilated at the tip. L. triangularis, Walck. ; Aranea montana, Linn., &c. They construct upon 
various shrubs an horizontal slender web, attached by irregular threads in many points ; this web is thus a 
melange of those of the Inequitelce and Orbitelie. Tlie insect stations itself on the under side in a transverse 
position. 
Uloborus, Latr., has the four posterior eyes placed at equal distances in a straight line, and the two lateral ones ; 
of the front line nearer the front edge of the thorax than the two intermediate ones. The maxillae widen from 
near the base, and are spatulated at the tip ; the tarsi of the three hind pairs of legs are terminated by a single j 
unguis. The body is long and subcylindrical. When stationed in the middle of their web, they stretch their four 
fore-legs forward in a straight line, and their two hind ones in an opposite direction, the third pair being laterally 
extended. They make webs like the other Orbitel®, but looser and horizontally. The cocoon is narrow, long, 
angular at the sides, and suspended vertically by one end to a net ; the other end is produced into two points, as 
stated to me by M. Dufour. U. Walckenaer ius, Lat. j found in the woods of the environs of Bordeaux, and other 
southern departments ; five lines long. 
* This species is the type of Wiilckeiiaer’s genus Latrodectes, founded upon supposed differences in the relative length of the legs. 
