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Show 184 AHACHNIUES. the nearly equal length of the exterior fusi, and by the straight· ness of the line formed by the fou ,. anterior eyes. The Clubionre construct silky tubes under stones, in chinks of walls, or between leaves. Their cocoons are globular( 1 )· ARANEA· The true Arane::e, which we at first designated by the generic ap· ellation of Tegenaria, retained by Walckenacr, and to which we p I . . f . add 'his Angelen::e and Nyssi, have t 1e1r two superior us1 much longer than the others, and their fout· antel'iot' eyes arranged in a line posteriorly arcuated or forming a curve. They construct, in our houses, in the angles of walls, on plants, hedges, along the roads, in the earth, and undet·. sto~es, a large and nearly horizontal web, at the upper part of wh1ch 1s a tube where they remain motionless(2). Then follow the Naiades of Walckenaer, or our aquatic Tubitelre, which for.m the ARGYRONETA, Lat. The jaws are inclined on the ligula, which is triangular. The two eyes of each lateral extremity of the ocular gt·oup are closely approximated and placed on a particular eminence; the four others form a quadrilateral. .!lrgyroneta aquat·ica; .!lranea aquatica, L., Geoff., Deg. Blackish brown, the abdomen darker; silky; four depressed points on the back. It is found on the stagnant waters of Eu· rope, where it swims with the abdomen enclosed in a bubble of aiq it forms an oval cell, filled with air, and lined with silk, from which various threads extend to the surrounding plants. Here it lies in wait for its prey, deposits its cocoon, which it carefully watches, and encloses itself to pass the winter. In the second section of the sedentary and rectigrade spiders, that of the lNEQUITELlE, the external papill::e are nearly conical, project but little, at·e convergent, and form a rosette; the legs are very slen· der. The jaws incline over the lip, and become narrower at their superior extt·emity, or at least do not sensibly widen. Most of them have the first pair of legs longest, and then the (1) .llranea lwlosericea, L.; Degeer, I:'ab.; Walck., Ilist. des Aran. IV, iii, fem.;. B.ranea atro~c. Deg., Fab.; List., Aran., XXT, 21; Albin, Aran., X, 48, and XVII, 82. See also Tab. des Aran., and the Faun. Paris., 'Valckenaer. (2) .llranea domestica, L., Dcg., Fab.; Clerck., Aran. Suec., pl. ii, tab. ix;Tegeneria civais, Walck., Hist. des Aran., V, v;-.llmnca lr.ibyrinthica, L., Fab.; Clerck, Ar:m., Succ. pl. ii, tab. viii. See the Tab. des Aran., Walck. PULMON ARliE. 185 The abdomen is more voluminous, softer, and more colour-feod utrhtha.n in the preceding tr1· bes. T he1· r we b s. (!o rm an d•1 ~reg~ 1a t• nedt d of threads which cross each other m every 1rectton an compose . ~ . d' 1 h 1 P lanes They lie in wa1t 10r theu prey, 1sp ay muc 00 severa · h . r the preservation of their eggs, and never abandon t em anxiety 1or . . 11 they are hatched. They are short-hved. t1 In some, the first pair of legs, and then the fourth, are the longest. SoYTODES, Lat. B t • 1 eyes arranged in pairs. According to Dufour, the hooks U Sl •• of their tarsi are inserted into a supplement~ry JOlDt. h . ( ) . Two species are known, one of wh1ch, the t orac~ca 1 m-h bits houses in Europe, and the other, la blonde, Ann. des Sc. P al1 ys. v, lxxvi , 5 ' was found under calc. areous debris in th. e mountains of Valencia. It weaves a umform tube of a thm milk-white tissue, like that of the Dysdera e1·ythrina. THERIDION, Walck. Eight eyes disposed as follows: four in the mi~dle for~ing a e the two anterior of which are placed on a httle emmence, squar , 1 · Th and two on each side, also situated on a common e evatlon. e thorax bas the figure of a reversed heart, or is nearly triangular. This subgenus is very numerous(2) • Therid. malmignatte; .!lranea 13-guttata, Fa b.; Ross. Faun. Etrusc., II, ix, 10. The lateral eyes separated from each other; body black, with thirteen small, round, blood-red spots on the abdomen. Its bite is considered venomous and even mortal. From Tuscany and Corsica(3). The .11. mactans, Fab., a second species of Theridion inhabit-ing South America, is equally dreaded in that country. This prejudice against these animals appears to originate from their black colour, varied with sanguine spots. (1) Scytodcs thoracica, Lat., Gen. Crust. et Insect. I, v, 4; Walck. Ilist. des Aran., I, x, and II, Suppl. (2) See the Tab. and Hist. des Aran., Walcken., the Ann. des Sc. Nat., and Ann. des Sc. Phys. The Aranere bipunctata, redimita, L., and the .0.. albo-maculata, Deg., &c., should be referred to this genus. . . . (3) This species is the type of the genus Latrodecta, Walck., whtch he distin· guishes from that of Theridion by the difference in the respective length of the feet; in this, however, he appears to me to have erred. . His Theridion benignf.llf/1,, Hist. des Aran. fasc. V, viii, whose habtts he baa care· fully studied, establishes its domicil between the clusters of grapes, and defends them from the attacks of various Insects. VoL. III.-Y |
