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).