A raneae. 
93 
floccnlent web, as on an autumnal day in England. The ship was Table- 
sixty miles distant from the land, in the direction of a steady ^ se 2 s g Nos ' 
though light breeze. Vast numbers of a small spider, about one- 
tenth of an inch in length, and of a dusky red colour, were attached 
to the webs. There must have been, I should suppose, some 
thousands on the ship. The little spider, when first coming in 
contact with the rigging, was always seated on a single thread, 
and not on the flocculent mass. This latter seems merely to he 
produced by the entanglement of the single threads. . . 
Spiders are divided into two sub-orders : 1. Mesothelae. 
2. Opisthothelae. 
Sub-Order I.— MESOTHELAE. 
In the Mesothelae the spinning appendages consist of two Table-case 
pairs of biramous limbs, which are situated far in advance of the No ' 22, 
anus, immediately behind 
the pulmonary sacs. The 
abdomen is distinctly seg- 
mented, the upper surface 
being furnished with a 
series of eleven tergal plates, 
and its ventral surface with 
two large plates overlying 
the pulmonary sacs, and a 
number of small plates 
behind the spinnerets. 
In the segmentation of 
the body and in the position 
of their spinnerets, the 
Mesothelae differ from all 
other living spiders, and 
resemble certain extinct 
(Carboniferous) types (Pro- Pig. 60. 
tolycosa, etc.). There is but Liphistius desuitor. 
a single family with two 
genera (Liphistius and Anadiastothele), which occur in Burma, 
Malacca, and Sumatra. Specimens have been captured in the 
depths of limestone caverns in Malacca, and it is possible that 
the apparent rarity of these spiders is due to their restriction to 
a cave habitat. A specimen of Liphistius desuitor is exhibited in 
Table-case 22. 
