Overview

Huntsman Spiders

The Wolf Spider

The Voracious Water Spider

Orb Web Builders

A Fascinating Sight

Riddle of the St. Andrew's Cross

The Tailed Spider

The Amazing Stick Spider

The Death's Head Spider

Queen of Spinners

The Hairy Imperial Spider

The Beautiful Spiny-Bellied Spider

The Crab Spider

The Jumping Spider

The Flying Spider

Bird-Catching Spiders

A Spider that Barks?

Trap-Door Spiders

The Brown Trap-Door Spider

The Funnel-Web Spider

The Venomous Red-Back Spider

Deadliest of Creatures

The Beautiful Spiny-Bellied Spider

Many of the small spiders are gems of beauty, both in color and form. Especially striking are the spiny-bellied spiders (Gasteracantha), in which the integument of . the abdomen is hard and often produced into a bizarre armament of spines. A form from northern Australia is so greatly expanded laterally that it is known as the buffalo's horn spider. One of the commonest species in- eastern Australia is Gasteracantha minax, with its many-spined abdomen marked with numerous enamel-like white spots upon a glossy back-ground, rather like an ornately iced cake. The beautiful little two-spined spider (Poecilopachys bispinosa) is one of the few spiders which have the power of color-change. Normally brown with a yellow band around the front margin of the abdomen, and two prominent yellow spines upon the back, it , can, when disturbed, produce a red flush which may be observed passing in regular waves along the pale marginal band.