Spiders are less generally known than other animals and yet these much maligned creatures deserve better treatment than we are inclined to give them. In appearance many of them rival animals of more distinction. In the diversity of their habits they can equal those of the insects or any other group of animals better known. In numbers they can hold their own as anyone will discover who might go and look for them. For a long time I have felt the need for a small book that anyone might carry in a pocket while outdoors that would provide one with the identity of a spider whose name one might wish to know, within certain limits. For there are many spiders that only an expert or specialist can identify. On the other hand, there are many species that can immediately be recognized by some easily observed character or by a fairly distinctive color pattern. In general it is these that most of us are apt to come across and whose identity we would want to know. To keep costs down and have the book within a price range that would make it available to everyone, the tarantulas, trap-door spiders and their relatives, which are not true spiders and which occur chiefly in the South and West, as well as some families whose representatives are rarely encountered have been excluded. - Preface.