Peckham—Revision of the Attidce of North America. 529 
long, occupies two-fifths of the cephalothorax, and is usually 
wider behind than in front, although in some cases it is equally 
wide in front and behind or wider in front. The front eyes form 
a straight or slightly curved row, the middle eyes being near to¬ 
gether and about twice as large as the lateral, from which they 
are distinctly separated. The second row is about halfway be¬ 
tween the first and the third; the third, is nearly as wide as the 
cephalothorax at that place, the eyes being almost equally distant 
frem each other and from the lateral borders. The labium is 
at least as wide as long and is half as long as the maxillse. The 
falces are vertical, parallel and rather weak, with small fangs. 
Among the European species the legs are 1342 in the males and 
3142 in the females, but among the American, the third and 
fourth are most commonly longer than the first and second, in 
both sexes. The male palpus is very constant in form, the bulb 
being short and rounded. 
The males of Pellenes have, usually, some peculiar modifica¬ 
tion of form, color or ornament, appearing in the first and third 
legs. These fringes, enlargements, and markings are used to 
attract and delight the female during courtship, the posturing 
and dancing being such as to show off every beauty to the great¬ 
est advantage. They make the identification of the males com¬ 
paratively easy, while the females resemble each other so closely 
as to make it very difficult to distinguish them. The young 
males are like the females until within one or two moults from 
maturity. 
We have classified the males of Pellenes by the ornamentation 
of the first and third legs, as this is easily observed, and answers 
well in most cases, but it must be remembered that the fringes 
that decorate the first leg are delicate and perishable, and that 
the enlargements of the femur and patella of the third vary in 
size and are sometimes scarcely perceptible or even wanting. 
If, therefore, a spider that is sought for in the Key under “Legs 
not modified nor fringed” is not found there, it should be 
looked for under the other heading. 
