The Common Spiders of the United StatesEmerton, J. H. (James Henry)
Science
The Common Spiders of the United States
Emerton, J. H. (James Henry)
Spiders -- United States
The general color is gray, with long gray and white hairs. The
cephalothorax has a dark brown band along the edge on each side, which
is larger and darker in the males. The abdomen has in the middle a
yellowish white marking covering half its width, the front half straight
and the hinder half notched at the sides. The legs are darker at the
ends of the joints and light in the middle. The under side of the
abdomen has a dark middle stripe.
[Illustration: FIG. 158.--Hyctia pikei, enlarged eight times.]
$Hyctia pikei.$--A slender species a quarter to a third of an inch in
length, with the abdomen twice as long as the cephalothorax, and in
general appearance like a seed or piece of straw (fig. 158). The whole
body is covered with silvery white hairs mixed with a few longer black
ones. The markings of the back in the male are a dark middle stripe on
the abdomen, partly divided by notches into four spots and a fine middle
line and two less distinct side lines on the cephalothorax. In the
female the stripe on the abdomen is less definite and is broken up into
spots, and in young spiders the whole body is pale yellow or greenish.
The front legs are as long as the abdomen in both sexes, colored brown,
and with the middle joints thickened. They are not much used in walking,
being extended straight forward and raised enough to clear the ground
while the spider walks with the other six. The other legs are pale and
slender.
The elongated shape of this spider distinguishes it from all the other
common Attidæ. The markings and the position of the legs, two pairs
pointing forward and two backward, increase the long appearance. The
basal joints of the fourth legs are brought close together, and those of
the first pair almost as close. The labium and maxillæ are a little
longer than usual and are partly covered by the first legs.
I have found this spider common on sand grass, where nothing else grows,
and the young lying lengthwise on the leaves could hardly be seen. They
mature in the middle of the summer. When the male approaches the female
he raises the front legs at an angle of sixty degrees with each other,
raises the abdomen a little, and advances by short runs, twitching the
front legs and abdomen every few moments.
[Illustration: FIGS. 159, 160. Cyrba tæniola.--159, female enlarged
eight times. 160, profile to show flatness of the back.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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