[Illustration: FIG. 135. Phidippus mystaceus, enlarged six times.]
$Phidippus mystaceus.$--A stout species half an inch long, gray and hairy, in alcohol turning brown. The abdomen is light gray at the sides and dark in the middle, with four pairs of white spots, the third pair largest (fig. 135). The cephalothorax is round and nearly as wide as long. The front row of eyes is little longer than half the greatest width of the cephalothorax. The cephalothorax is flat on top for almost its whole length and in front about twice the diameter of the largest eyes in height. The mandibles are large and bright metallic green in front (fig. 118). The legs are stout and short, the fourth pair extending little beyond the spinnerets. The first and fourth pairs are of the same length, but the first are twice as thick as the fourth. The legs are without markings and darker toward the head. The abdomen is longer than the cephalothorax and as wide or wider. There is little difference between the sexes, the males being only a little darker colored and larger in front. Usually found under stones in a thick silk nest.
[Illustration: FIG. 136. Phidippus tripunctatus, enlarged six times.]
$Phidippus tripunctatus.$--Black, with three bright white spots on the back of the abdomen (fig. 136). Large females are half an inch long and the males a little smaller. Though the general color is black, it is modified, especially in fresh specimens, by white hairs on parts of the body. The joints of the legs are grayish in the middle and black toward the ends. There are white hairs on the front of the head and upper side of the palpi and a white band around the front of the abdomen, plainest in the males. The three large white spots on the abdomen correspond to the second and third pairs in _mystaceus_ (fig. 135) and _multiformis_ (fig. 133), and the other pairs, though generally present, are small and inconspicuous. On the under side of the abdomen are usually two gray stripes. This is a common spider all over the country. It lives under stones and sticks and passes the winter half grown in a thick silk bag.
[Illustration: FIG. 137. Plexippus puerperus.--Female enlarged six times.]
[Illustration: FIGS. 138, 139. Plexippus puerperus.--138, male enlarged six times. 139, front of head of male.]