[Illustration: FIG. 221. Web of Agalena nævia in long grass, seen from
above. One-third the real size.]
[Illustration: FIG. 222. Web of Agalena nævia in short grass on the side
of a hill, seen from the side. The spider stands in its usual place at
the mouth of its tube. Half the real size.]
The larger Agalenidæ are the makers of the flat wide cobwebs that are so
common on the grass and in the corners of barns and cellars. They
resemble some of the Drassidæ, especially Agrœca and Anyphæna (pp.
1-14). The head is large and marked off by shallow grooves from the
thorax, and is often contracted behind the eyes, so that it is narrower
there than in the front. The mandibles are large and, in the females,
much swelled at the base in front. The arrangement of the eyes differs
little from that in the Drassidæ. The upper spinnerets are longer than
the others and have the terminal joint narrowed toward the end, with the
spinning tubes on the inner side. The feet have three claws, like the
Lycosidæ, and do not have the brush of hairs common in the Drassidæ. The
males and females differ little in size, but the males have longer legs
and smaller abdomen and large and complicated palpi.
[Illustration: FIGS. 223, 234. Agalena nævia.--223, female enlarged
twice. 224, front of head.]
[Illustration: FIG. 225. End of palpus of male Agalena nævia.]
[Illustration: FIG. 226. Newly made edge of web of Agalena nævia,
showing arrangement of the threads.]
[Illustration: FIG. 227. Web of Agalena nævia in a plant of golden-rod
two feet above the ground, showing upper threads. One-fourth the real
size.]
$Agalena nævia.$--This spider is known everywhere by its web, which it
makes on grass, among stones and weeds, and in houses (figs. 221, 222).
It varies greatly in size and color. Large females may be three-quarters
of an inch long, with legs measuring an inch and a quarter, while others
may be full grown at half that size. In color some are pale yellow with
gray markings, and others reddish brown with the markings almost black.
Whatever the color, they are thickly covered with fine gray hairs. The
cephalothorax has two longitudinal gray stripes and a black line along
the edge on each side (fig. 223). The head is high and a little darker
in front. Both rows of eyes are strongly curved, with the middle eyes
highest, so that the middle eyes of the lower row and the lateral of the
upper row form a nearly straight line (fig. 224). The mandibles are
stout, not much swelled in front, and covered with hair. The abdomen is
gray or black at the sides and lighter brown in the middle, with two
rows of white or light-colored spots. The upper spinnerets are more than
twice as long as the others, and the terminal joint much longer than the
basal. The legs are large and long, the fourth pair almost twice as
long as the body. The legs are marked with dark rings at the ends of the
joints and lighter rings in the middle of femur and tibia. On the under
side the coxæ are light colored and the sternum dark, and there is a
broad dark middle band on the abdomen from the hinder legs to the
spinnerets. The males are as large as the females, with longer legs and
smaller abdomen. The male palpi have a very large black tube coiled one
and a half turns under the tarsus (fig. 225). The web (fig. 222) is flat
and shaped according to the surrounding objects to which it is fastened,
with a tube at one side in which the spider hides. The eggs are laid in
August and September in a flat cocoon, attached by one side in some
sheltered place and covered with silk, often mixed with dirt. Most of
the adult spiders die before winter, and females are often found dead on
or near their cocoons. The young hatch in the winter and leave the
cocoon early in the spring, and soon begin to build their webs among the
short grass. The webs become more distinct when covered with dew, but,
though too transparent to be seen at other times, they remain in the
same places throughout the summer and are repaired and enlarged as the
spider grows. If, however, the web should be destroyed, the spider is
able in one day to make a new one as large as the old, but thin and
transparent. The web contains many long threads crossing it from one
side to the other and nearly parallel, and these are crossed in all
directions by finer threads (fig. 226). The long threads are spun from
the lower spinnerets, the upper pair being held up over the back, out of
the way. The fine threads are spun from the upper spinnerets, which are
swung from side to side as the spider moves along. There is nothing
adhesive about the web. It serves merely as a clearing where insects may
alight to rest and the spider may have a good chance to run after them.
Where the web is made under plants or rocks a great number of threads
are carried upward from it, which may help in stopping insects (fig.
227), as they do in the webs of Linyphia. (See p. 135.)
[Illustration: FIGS. 228, 229. Tegenaria derhamii.--228, female enlarged
four times. 229, front of head.]
$Tegenaria derhamii.$--This is a common species in barns and cellars,
and has probably been imported from Europe, where it is even more
common. The head is high and wide, as in _T. medicinalis_. The mandibles
are less swelled in front and the eyes are closer together than in that
species, and cover more than half the width of the head (fig. 229). The
cephalothorax is shorter and wider across the hinder half and the
abdomen shorter than in _medicinalis_, and the legs are longer and more
hairy. The colors are lighter and the hairs of the whole body longer.
The female is two-fifths of an inch long. The cephalothorax is pale,
with two gray stripes. The abdomen is marked with a series of gray
spots, formed of a middle row more or less connected with two side rows;
the front of the abdomen often pale, with the markings faint (fig. 228).
The legs are long, the first and fourth pairs nearly twice the length
of the body. They are marked with faint gray rings at the ends and two
in the middle of each joint. The palpi are long and slender in both
sexes, and those of the male have the patella and tibia of about the
same length and each nearly twice as long as wide. There are no
processes on the patella, but two small teeth on the tibia near its end.
The tarsus is small and narrow, not as long as the patella and tibia.
[Illustration: FIG. 230. Web of Tegenaria derhamii in corner of cellar.]
[Illustration: FIG. 231. Web of Tegenaria derhamii with spider in mouth
of tube. Old cocoons hanging at the left.]
[Illustration: FIG. 232. Web of Tegenaria derhamii curving downward on
each side.]
The webs are made in all parts of cellars and unswept buildings,
sometimes forming a shelf in the corner, not as large or as flat as
those of _A. nævia_, but with a similar tube on the most sheltered side
(fig. 230) The webs more often spread under beams and floors fastened up
by threads at the sides and edges, and, as they gather dust, hang down
by its weight and become torn and tangled. Old webs are repaired and
extended until they become as thick as cloth with silk and dirt. The
tube is generally smaller and less funnel shaped where it enters the web
than that of Agalena. The web is not as flat as that of Agalena, curving
usually down from the tube and up in front of it, often turning up
abruptly at the edge. Sometimes it is fastened up in the middle of the
front edge and curves downward each side (fig. 232).
Fig. 231 shows a web of the most common form in the corner of a cellar,
with the spider standing at the mouth of the tube, and the remains of
egg cocoons hung up at the left. This web was at least a year old, and
the front edge had just been extended with clear and transparent silk,
while the middle was black with coal dust.
Fig. 232 is another web in the same cellar, with the front edge fastened
up to the boards above. It is drawn tightest in the middle and curves
down on each side.
[Illustration: FIGS. 233, 234. Tegenaria medicinalis.--233, adult female
enlarged four times. 234, cephalothorax of young female to show spots.]
$Tegenaria (Cælotes) medicinalis.$--A large gray spider living in the
woods, among rocks, in hollow trees, and under loose bark. It is half an
inch long, with the legs of the female not much longer (fig. 233). The
head is large and wide, and the eyes cover a little more than half its
width. It is a little constricted in front of the legs and raised above
the thorax as far back as the dorsal groove. The abdomen of the females
is large and oval, widest across the hinder half. The spinnerets are
small, but plainly two-jointed, and the upper pair longest. The general
color is light yellow brown, covered with gray hairs, the cephalothorax
browner, and the abdomen grayer, than the legs. The cephalothorax has
two indistinct gray stripes. The abdomen is marked with a series of gray
spots of irregular shape, smallest toward the front and larger and
darker toward the end. The legs are faintly ringed with gray, more
distinctly in the young.
[Illustration: FIG. 235. Palpus of male Tegenaria medicinalis.]
[Illustration: FIGS. 236, 237. Two forms of epigynum of Tegenaria
medicinalis.]
The males are as large as the females, with smaller abdomen and longer
legs. The palpi have the patella and tibia short, not much longer than
wide (fig. 235). The patella has a short process on the outer side near
the end. The tibia is of complicated shape, as shown in the figure. The
tarsus is twice as long as the tibia and patella together, with a long
narrow tip. The palpal organ is large and complicated, with a long fine
tube that can be seen from above, where it curves around the base of the
tarsus.
[Illustration: FIG. 238. Web of Tegenaria medicinalis in a hollow of a
rock, the front edge held up by threads running across the hollow, and
the mouth of the tube showing behind it.]
The epigynum varies in appearance according to the thickness and color
of different parts. The two figures show common varieties (figs. 236,
237). This species and _longitarsus_ are both easily mistaken for
_Amaurobius sylvestris_ and _ferox_, which are of the same size and
color and live in the same situations. Amaurobius does not have the long
upper spinnerets like Tegenaria, the eyes are lower on the front of the
head, and there are larger light-colored markings on the front of the
abdomen. The young of _Tegenaria medicinalis_ are pale, with light gray
markings, and the cephalothorax is marked with spots radiating from the
dorsal groove (fig. 234). The web of this spider is not flat like that
of Agalena, but curved in various shapes according to the place where it
is built. If there is an open level place near the nest, the web spreads
across it, but usually curves upward at the edges and is fastened to
surrounding stones and weeds. Where the spider lives in the cracks of a
wall or rock, the net spreads along the surface of the rock, held away
from it a short distance by threads fastened to projecting points on the
stone (figs. 239, 240). This species is sometimes mistaken for the
longer legged and more hairy _Tegenaria derhamii_ (fig. 228), that makes
similar webs in barns and cellars.
$Tegenaria (Cælotes) longitarsus.$--Smaller than _medicinalis_; about
two-fifths of an inch in length. The head is very wide, and the
mandibles of the female more swelled in front than in _medicinalis_, and
the eyes are smaller and cover less than half the width of the head
(figs. 244, 245). The cephalothorax is darker colored in front and does
not have the two longitudinal stripes seen in _medicinalis_ (fig. 241).
The legs are only faintly marked with gray in the middle of the joints.
The abdomen is marked with gray, in a series of dark and light spots, as
in other species, and of more regular shape than in _medicinalis_. The
epigynum is light colored, with a middle bar covered with hair and
slightly forked at the hinder end (fig. 242). The male differs in the
usual way from the female and has the palpi shorter than _medicinalis_.
The tarsus has a projection at the base that covers the tibia. The
patella has a short process on the outer side that points directly
forward (fig. 243).
[Illustration: FIG. 239. Sections of webs of Tegenaria and
Agalena.--_a_, Agalena nævia; _b_, common form of Tegenaria derhamii,
with the edge lower than the tube; _c_, Tegenaria, with the edge higher
than the tube; _d_, Tegenaria, with the edge carried up along the face
of a rock; _e_, Tegenaria, with the edge carried down as well as up.]
[Illustration: FIG. 240. Web of Tegenaria medicinalis, with the front
edge carried up along the face of a rock. See diagram (fig. 239, _d_).]
[Illustration: FIGS. 241, 242, 243, 244, 245. Tegenaria
longitarsus.--241, back of female. 242, epigynum. 243, palpus of male
seen from above. 244, head of Tegenaria medicinalis. 245, head of
Tegenaria longitarsus.]
[Illustration: FIGS. 246, 247, 248, 249. Tegenaria complicata.--246,
female enlarged four times. 247, epigynum. 248, 249, male palpus.]
$Tegenaria (Cicurina) complicata.$--A small spider, resembling the young
of the larger species of Tegenaria, found usually under dead leaves in
woods (fig. 246). It is a fifth to a quarter of an inch long, with the
longest legs one and one-half times as long as the body. The spines of
the third and fourth legs are long and stout, and there are long fine
hairs on all the legs and the abdomen. The color is pale yellowish
brown, lighter on the abdomen, which has faint gray markings. The sexes
are much alike, and both vary in size. The palpi of the males are very
large and conspicuous (figs. 248, 249). The patella is short and wide,
and the tibia is narrower at the end and wide toward the base, where it
has a short process on the outer side. On the under side of the tibia is
a long thin appendage of irregular shape that is nearly as long as the
tarsus. The tarsus itself is long and narrow, and the palpal organ
large and complicated, with a long fine tube that extends from the base
along the outer side and back to the hard appendages in the middle. The
epigynum (fig. 247) has a small, transverse, oval opening at the hinder
end, in front of which the coils of long tubes can be seen through the
skin.
In New England Agalenidæ Pl. VII, fig. 2 is the epigynum of this species
and not of _Cælotes longitarsus_.
[Illustration: FIGS. 250, 251. Hahnia bimaculata.--250, female enlarged
twelve times. 251, under side showing the peculiar arrangement of the
spinnerets.]
$Hahnia bimaculata.$--The Hahnias resemble Tegenaria, but are much
smaller and have the spinnerets extended in a line across the under side
of the abdomen (fig. 251). _Hahnia bimaculata_ is about one-eighth of an
inch long, with the abdomen large and oval, widest behind, as it is in
Cælotes (fig. 250). The cephalothorax is bright orange brown, and the
legs and abdomen pale yellowish with gray markings. The legs are ringed
with gray, the longer joints having two rings, and the abdomen has a
pattern of light yellow and gray spots. The spinnerets are all long and
in a nearly straight line, half as long as the width of the abdomen. The
outer or upper pair are half as long as the abdomen, and the two joints
are nearly of equal length. The tracheal opening is in the middle of the
abdomen, nearer the epigynum than the spinnerets. The sternum is as wide
as long, widest opposite the second legs. The maxillæ are straight in
front and have a slight projection at the outer corners, where there are
two or three stiff hairs. In some other species there is a longer
process at these corners.
This spider is common in winter under stones and under leaves. In summer
it makes webs close to the ground, among short and thin grass and moss.
[Illustration: FIG. 252. Hahnia cinerea, enlarged sixteen times.]
$Hahnia cinerea.$--About a twelfth of an inch long; much smaller than
_bimaculata_ (fig. 251). The color is dark gray, the cephalothorax and
legs brownish, and the legs a little lighter at the ends of the joints.
The abdomen has a row of angular light spots in the middle. The
spinnerets are in not quite as straight a line as in _bimaculata_, the
outer pair being a little higher and farther behind the next. The
tracheal opening is not as far forward as in _bimaculata_, being nearer
the spinnerets than the epigynum. The male palpi have the appendages of
patella and tibia longer than in _bimaculata_, and softer and more
curved. They are found under stones and leaves.