2. IF we ihoiild call the ^/iVifrj of this aiToitment by the name of./ai or/»¿z/« weavers, it
would diftinguiih them from others with almoft fufficient exadnefs; fince their webs, exclufive
of their remarkable thicknefs, have alfo a flat fituation.
3. THESE webs, at firft fight, appear to be woven like cloth; but in reality the warp and
woof do not crofs each other, but are only glued one under the other.
4. THESE Spiders are evidently of a very different form, from thofe of the two former
divifions.
5. THOUGH they are truly Retiary Spiders, yet they have not the fame diftinftive chara£ters
as the former, but peculiar ones of their own, which are as follow:
I. Two longiih tubercles are pointed and prominent beyond the anus. 2. The hind legs
are the longeft; the reft vary in the different fpecies. 3. The eyes are not concrete or joined.
S P E C I E S I.—A. DOMESTICUS.
H O U S E - S P I D E R .
T H I S fpecies is common almoft all the year round, in the windows and corners of houfes.
Plate 2, fig. 10. In the middle of July, I took ten of them in a room, which had two windows.
Each of them had a feparate web in the corners of the windows, fcarcely a quarter
of a yard diftant from each other. They appeared flat, and were furniflied at each extremity
with a funnel, where the Spider always fat looking for its prey. Their way of life and manner
of weaving was the fame, wherefore I take them to be of the fpecies defcribed by Linnoeus,
in the Fauna Suecica, ed. i. n. 1215. ed. 2. n. 2000. The examination of thefe Spiders caufed
fome furprize in me, as they were diffimilar as to colour and marks though of the fame proportion
as to the length of the legs. The fituation of the eyes, in which a few differed a
little from the reft, did not feem to conftitute a diftinft fpecies. Thefe Spiders alfo caft their
fkin, as I found by four entire and uninjured exuvioe or floughs.
THE eyes are of equal fize and black, and placed as at D. The legs were of fuch a proportion,
that the laft pair were longeft, next the fore pair, then the fécond, and the third the fhoiteft.
They
( 35 )
They are flender, and clothed with unequal hairs, and a few briftles ; the longeft pair were
twice the length of the whole Spider. Some were prickly. All were furrounded by white and
black circles, though on the legs of two of them the circles fcarcely appeared, on account of the
darknefs of their colour; and on thofe of two of them the black circles were fcarcely vifible, by
reafon of the light or whitifh colour of the leg. On one they were extremely diftinft ; and
on the others moderately fo. The thorax ovate, a little flat, in fome dark, in fome brighter,
and in others ornamented with a fort of facula or fpot, more lucid than the reft, next to the
legs. That reprefented on the plate was for the moft part grey, with a fingle wave on each
fide, of a fomewhat brighter colour. All of them were gloffy, and coated with a thin down.
Many long black hairs projeifed from amongft the down, towards the region of the eyes. The
thorax ovate, hairy, with the thoracic junfture feated fomewhat beneath. In fome the abdomen
was flightly duiky ; m others a very little lucid, without markings ; in fome not very
diftin£tly fpotted, and one, which is fliewn in the figure, had feven yellowiih fpots, larger
towards the upper or anterior parts, a little contiguous, and furrounding a duiky longitudinal
fegment. Towards the anus the abdomen was of a yellowifh red, and furrounded by
two long, two fliort, and two very thin and hairy tubercles. The under furface of the ab -
domen was in fome flightly undulated, and in others not. The fexual organ was furrounded
by two whitiili fpots. The arms of the male ended in a veiy long point, with a pyramidal
nodule, which for about a third of its length was fcarce confpicuous. The arms of the female
were cylindric: thofe of both fexes abound with long unequal black hairs and prickles. The
holders, more or lefs blackifli, full of long and fine down, perpendicular, and a little
divaricated at their extremities. The eggs are very fmall, feparate, round, and white; they
are involved in flue. The young came out on the 22d of July, and at their firft exclufion
were whitifli.
SPECIES 11.
m