OCR Text |
Show 200 REV. O. P. CAMBRIDGE O N [Mar. 16, spreading, and its upperside is produced into a strong, tapering, curved apophysis, the extremity of which is directed outwards over the base of the digital joint; the extremity of this apophysis is emarginate or circularly notched on its outer side, and at its base is a short, blackish, tapering, sharp-pointed, spine-like projection: the digital joint is large and of ordinary form : the palpal organs are well developed and rather complex, with a strongish, circularly curved, tapering, sharp-pointed spine at their fore extremity, on the outer side ; and from near the base of this spine, and within its curvature, there issues another, short, nearly straight, and directed rather backwards. The falces are moderately long and strong, prominent above the middle of their fore sides, divergent towards their extremities, where, on their inner edges, they are armed with a few small sharp teeth; they are of a yellow colour slightly suffused with brown, and have a few prominent bristly hairs on their fore sides. On the lower part of the outer side of each falx, and rather towards the hinder part, are a few transverse, slightly oblique, parallel, scratch-like marks. The maxilla and labium are of normal form, and of a dull yellowish colour. The sternum is yellow, convex, glossy, and heart-shaped, and furnished with a few fine, prominent, dark, bristly hairs. The abdomen is oval, moderately convex above, of a dull, somewhat greenish-brown hue, and sparingly clothed with fine hairs. Although, for the most part, the above description might apply also to Erigone monoceros (Wid.), yet there will be no difficulty in distinguishing tbe two species by the greater size and height of the eminence on the ocular area of the present species, also by the larger size of the eyes and the contiguity of those of the hinder pair, the greater size (particularly in the width) of the ocular area in E. monoceros, and consequently the larger intervals between the different pairs of eyes. The radial apophysis also differs in the circular emargination at its extremity being quite on the outer side, and not (as in E. monoceros) very nearly at its extremity ; and the spine-like projection on its outer side is shorter and less conspicuous. The circularly curved spine also, at the outer extremity of the palpal organs, in this latter species is shorter and proportionally stronger; and the extreme fore part of the caput is also broader and flatter, the spider itself, too, is smaller, and, in examples that have been some time adult, more richly and darkly coloured. This species is also allied to Erigone directa (Cambr.) and E. indirecta (ej.) (North-American species); but it may be directly distinguished by the absence in these latter of clavate hairs on the horn-like eminence of the caput, the hairs in these species being of an ordinary nature. The female, though a little larger, and devoid of the horn-like eminence on the caput, resembles the male in colours and general characters; the eyes however are more closely grouped, and there is a distinct interval between those of the hinder pair; the fore part also of the caput is less prominent. The form of the genital |