COMMON INDIAN SPIDERS. 
1049 
and useful, though much smaller, house spider is the little jumping spider Pie- 
xippus (family Attidce), a creature so partial to a diet of mosquitoes that one 
species has earned for itself the specific name culicivorus. 
In both Heteropoda vomtoria and the common Plexippus the female is of a 
dull mottled brown colour, and the male much handsomer. The difference is 
most marked in Plexippus (see figs. 10 & 11) in which the male is not brown 
at all but strikingly marked with rich black on a whitish ground. I am not 
aware that anything is known of the courtship of Heteropoda. . But among 
the Attidae it is well known that this often includes a dance of the male 
before the female and I have on more than one occasion seen the male Plexip- 
pus cautiously approaching his mate Avith uplifted fore-legs, though the dance 
does not appear to be so Avell shoAvn in this species as in some that have 
been investigated. 
The Attidae are an immense family, and most of its members are jumping 
spiders not unhke Plexippus in general structure, but of very varied size, pro- 
portions and colouration. Some of the smaller species are resplendent with 
amazingly brilliant metallic colours. One interesting group, however, closely 
resembles various species of ants in form and mode of progression as Avell as in 
colour (see fig. 12). Ant-mimicing spiders are found also in other families, 
such as the Clubionidae, to which the large House spider belongs, and the 
Thomisidae or Crab-spiders ; and they form a most interesting study. There 
are also species which mimic the handsomely coloured wingless female MutUid 
wasps. Such spiders can, of course, be at once distinguished from their insect 
models by the possession of four instead of three pairs of walking legs. The 
first pair is often held up to look like antennae, but is always attached to the 
lower surface behind the mouth instead of to the upper surface in front 
of it. 
The majority of the Thomisidae (Crab-spiders) are broad bodied AAith Avidely 
spreading legs, not unlike the Large House Spider in general build, but Avith the 
two hind pairs of legs much smaller than the two front pairs. One of the 
commonest species, usually greenish or Avhitish in colour, hides among leaves 
or floAvers to pounce on such insects as may be tempted to visit them. 
Several of the smaller species of Lycosa (family Lycosidae or Wolf spiders) 
are usually to be found running about in large numbers on open ground, both 
wet and dry, especially the former. They are broAvnish in colour, the males 
sometimes with conspicuous silvery white palps or front legs ; they may 
readily be recognised from spiders belonging to other families by the arrange- 
ment of the eyes, the four posteriors being as a rule of relatively enormous 
size, the medians directed forwards and the laterals outwards, while the four 
anterior eyes are quite small, and situated in a line below the posterior 
medians. One or two much larger species of Lycosa live in broad burroAvs, 
open at the mouth and lined Avith loosely spun silk. They are often to be 
found on open grassy land. 
A closely allied genus, Hippasa, distinguished from Lycosa by having the 
posterior spinerettes much longer than the anterior, instead of about equal to 
them, is the builder of most of the sheet- webs communicating Avith a tunnel 
that are commonly to be found spreading out from walls, bushes, grass and other 
convenient hiding places. The spiders lie in Avait for their prey at the mouth 
of the tunnel ; and when mature they appear to live amicably in pairs, the male 
guarding the mouth of the tunnel Avhile the female rests inside. 
The Lycosidae carry their eggs in a spherical cocoon attached to the spineret- 
tes, and the young Avhen hatched mount on the back of the mother and are thus 
carried about by her for a time. 
The Oxgypidae are a family of more slender and brightly coloured hunting 
spiders, Avith eyes of normal size, and very spiney legs. They hide their cocoons 
among foliage, where they mount guard over them. 
