Argyrodes nephilæ.—This is about as large as Argyrodes trigonum, with the hump silver white and the under side of the body black or dark brown [(fig. 297)]. The hump ends in a blunt round point. The front of the head is more nearly vertical than in trigonum, and the upper part projects forward, carrying with it the front middle eyes. In the male there are two horns in front of the eyes, the upper one carrying the middle eyes of both rows [(fig. 299)]. The cephalothorax is black or dark brown above and below. The abdomen is black on the under side, including the spinnerets, and there is a black middle stripe extending back to the tip of the hump. The basal joints of all the legs are white. The third and fourth legs are light colored, with a little brown at the ends of the joints. The second legs are darker, and the first pair are almost black, except at the ends. The males are colored like the females, but have the abdomen not much larger than the cephalothorax [(fig. 298)], and the hump rounded. This is a southern species and is said to live among the outer threads of webs of large Epeiridæ. It does, however, make webs of its own, and I have seen the adults of both sexes at Charleston, S.C., in these webs away from any other spiders.

Argyrodes fictilium.—In this species the pointed hump on the abdomen is much more elongated than in trigonum, in some spiders to eight or nine times the length of the cephalothorax [(fig. 300)]. The tip is rounded in young specimens and sharp pointed in the larger ones. The front of the head is more inclined than that of trigonum [(fig. 301)]. The colors are light yellow and silvery white, with three darker lines on the cephalothorax and a faint middle line on the abdomen. The legs are very slender and long in proportion to the long abdomen. Found rarely from New England to Alabama.