LITMIR.BIZ

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and Erigone (p. 148) make their flat webs close to the ground among small plants. Linyphia marginata, communis, coccinea, and phrygiana make theirs among plants and rocks, a foot or two above the ground. The Theridiums (p. 110) live between leaves and on the ends of twigs, covering them with webs that only show when the dew is on them. Agalena nævia (pp. 91 to 95) makes its flat webs on the grass and anywhere else where it can find a place to fasten them. The jumping spiders (p. 41) run about for their prey on plants, and some of them have silk nests among the leaves. The Misumenas (p. 25) live among flowers and wait for insects to alight within reach. The webs of Dictyna (p. 206) are commonest on the ends of grass and twigs, and are known by the dust that they gather. The round-web spiders mature in the middle of the summer, and then Epeira trivittata (p. 166) is found on all kinds of bushes and grass, and later Epeira insularis (p. 169) and Epeira trifolium (p. 171) in hidden nests near their webs. Epeira angulata, sylvatica, and nordmanni (p. 162) live among bushes and trees. Cyclosa conica (p. 183), Acrosoma spinea (p. 190), and Uloborus (p. 216) live among low bushes in openings of the woods. Hyptiotes (p. 218) lives among the lower dead branches of pines, perching on the end of a twig which it exactly matches in color.

      The marshes are the home of great numbers of spiders. The Tetragnathas (p. 198) live there, especially along the streams and ditches. Epeira gibberosa (p. 175) and placida (p. 176) make their horizontal and oblique webs among the tall grass in open places. The two species of Argiope (pp. 193 to 198) swarm in marshes and open fields and in autumn become conspicuous by their size and bright colors, and when they disappear leave over winter their brown cocoons (pp. 197, 200) fastened to the grass.

      The moss and dead leaves in the woods are alive with spiders; even in summer some species always live there, and in winter the young of those that in warm weather live among the bushes find shelter where they can remain torpid through the cold season without freezing.

      The eggs of spiders are covered with silk, forming a cocoon which varies much in shape and color in different species. Some spiders hang it in the web, others attach it to plants or stones, and others carry it about with them either in the mandibles or attached behind to the spinnerets. The young remain in the cocoon until they are able to run about, and after coming out of the cocoon keep together for a short time, sometimes in a web which they make in common, sometimes in a nest made by the mother, and in some species on the mother's back, but they soon scatter and hunt their own food or make cobwebs, according to the habits of the species.

      

      Different kinds of spiders mature and breed at different times of the year, most of them living only one season. Those that mature late, like Agalena nævia and Argiope, pass the winter as eggs, while those that mature early, like Epeira sclopetaria and Lycosa nidicola, pass the winter half grown. Some species, like Theridium tepidariorum (p. 112), breed several times in the year, and old and young are found at all seasons.

      The spiders are naturally divided into two groups of families: (1) the hunting spiders, which run on the ground or on plants, catching insects wherever they find them, or waiting among leaves and flowers until insects come within their reach; (2) the cobweb spiders, which make webs to catch insects and live all the time in the web or in a nest near it.

      The hunting spiders include: (1) the Dysderidæ (p. 22), a few species with six eyes only and with four breathing holes at the front end of the abdomen; (2) the Drassidæ (p. 1), or ground spiders, which live among stones and dead leaves or among plants, making tubular nests and flat egg cocoons but no cobwebs; (3) the Thomisidæ (p. 24), the flat and crab-like spiders living on plants or under bark and stones; (4) the Attidæ (p. 41), the jumping spiders, with wide heads and large front eyes, many of them brightly colored and active in their habits; (5) the Lycosidæ (p. 67), the long-legged running spiders, living on the ground and, a few of them, in holes and carrying about their round egg cocoons attached to the spinnerets.

      The cobweb spiders include: (1) the Agalenidæ (p. 91, making flat webs on grass or in corners of houses, with a tube at one side in which the spider lives; (2) the Therididæ (p. 107), round spiders with flat or irregular webs in corners and on plants; (3) the Linyphiadæ (p. 134), with flat webs, small spiders of a great number of species living near the ground and in shady places; (4) the Epeiridæ (p. 154), the round web spiders; (5) the Cribellata, having a calamistrum (see p. 205) on the hind legs and making rough webs that gather dust.

      Cobwebs are of four principal kinds:

      1. The flat webs, closely woven of long threads crossed by finer ones in all directions and connected with a tubular nest where the spider hides, and from which it runs out on the upper side of the web after insects that may fall upon it. These are made by Agalena and Tegenaria (pp. 91 to 104).

      2. The net-like webs, made of smooth threads in large meshes, sometimes in a flat or curved sheet held out by threads in all directions. The spider lives on the under side, back downward. These are made by Therididæ and Linyphiadæ (pp. 107, 134).

      3. The round webs, made of threads radiating from a common center and crossed by circular loops and spirals, part of which are adhesive.

      4. The webs of the Ciniflonidæ, composed in part of loose bands of silk (p. 205).

      The simplest and best way to preserve spiders for examination is to put them in alcohol. It kills them immediately and keeps their form and markings and, to a great extent, their colors. They may be kept alive for a few days in glass bottles or jars. It is not necessary to make holes in the covers, or to feed the spiders often. They need water, and this can be furnished them conveniently by putting a piece of wet paper or rag in the bottle.

      If one wishes to find what spiders live in his neighborhood, they must be looked for at all times and in all kinds of places. The house and cellar should be looked over and the spiders watched until they are fully grown. The outside of the house and fences should be looked over occasionally in the same way, only those spiders being taken that are full grown, unless they are of new or rare kinds. A great many spiders may be found on the garden fences of a shady street, especially in the early summer and again in the autumn. At both seasons they are more active in the middle of the day and more likely then to be wandering about. The writer always carries two small bottles, one a common homeopathic medicine vial, holding one or two drams and half full of alcohol, the other a straight tube vial, without any neck and about the same size, that is kept always dry and occasionally wiped out to remove the threads that are made in it. The dry bottle is placed quickly over the spider and moved about until the spider is coaxed to go into it. The bottle is then turned up and closed with a finger until the other bottle can be uncorked and the spider shaken into the alcohol. In the fields and along the country roads the stones and sticks that have been lying for some time on the ground should be carefully lifted and searched, both on the under surface and on the ground below. The

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