Yvonne asked for some reading on those big hairy spiders that live under
our decks, most often, but come into the house a lot... They're Tegenaria
gigantea, an introduced European species that's common near seaports in
Western US. Because most of the American spider literature is still,
irritatingly, overwhelmingly based on Eastern species, you won't find much
on it in Gertsch's "American Spiders", or B. J. Kaston's "The Spiders", or
J. H. Emerton's "The Common Spiders of the United States". But you'll find
the family described, and the native US Tegenaria domestica that isn't as
impressive, and W. S. Bristowe's "The World Of Spiders" in the "New
Naturalist" series is based on British and European spiders. Gertsch and
Bristowe are readable and very well illustrated, and will tell you much
more than you wanted to know about the spiders you find in your garden,
basement... and bath-tub!

And if your curiosity extends beyond Tegenaria, and you have an unfinished
basement, look for Steatoda and its rather amazing webs... They look just
like Black Widows, but without the red hour-glass (and no, they're nowhere
near as toxic).

James West