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Show 190 ARACHNIDES. lines, arcuated and slightly undulat. ed. M. L.e on Dufour' Au n. des Sc. Phys. VI, pl. xcv, 5, has given a detailed description o£ this species, and of its habits, and was the first who ascertained the male. He has figured its sexual organ. The penis resem. bles a twisted seta. Ep. cucurbitina; .IJ.ranea cucurbitina, L.; .IJ.. senoculata, Fab.· Walck. Hist. des Aran., III, iii. Small; abdomen ovoid and lemon-coloured, marked wit.h black points; a red spot on the anus. It weaves a small horizontal web between the stems and leaves of plants. Ep. conica; .IJ.ranea conica, De Geer and Pall.; Walck. Hist Nat. des Aran., III, iii. Remarkable for its abdomen, which is gibbous anteriorly and has a conical termination; the anus is placed in the centre of an eminence. When it has extracted the juices from an insect, it suspends it to a thread. Immediately after the conica, we may place the species called by Dufour Epe~re de l'opuntia-Ann. des Sc. Phys., V, lxix, 3 -from the circumstance of its always weaving its loose and irregulat· web among the leaves of the Agave and Opuntia. It is black, with white hairs laid close to the body, having an appearance of scales. The abdomen has two pyramidal tuber· cles on each side, and terminates posteriorly in two others . ' which are obtuse and separated by a wide emargination. The posterior face of each tubercle is marked with a beautiful snow· white spot, resembling nacre; these spots are connected with each other, and with one or two more behind them, by white zig-zag lines. In the newly-hatched animal, these tubercles are not visible. The cocoons are oval, whitish, and formed of two coats, the interior of which is a kind of tow that envelopes the ova. Seven, eight, and even ten of these cocoons are frequently found arranged in file, or one after another. From Catalonia and Valencia. Some of the species foreign to Europe are very remarkable. Here we observe the abdomen is invested with an extremely fit·m skin, furnished with points or horny spines( 1 ); and there the legs are provided with bundles of hait·s(2). ( 1 ~ The .!lr. militaris, spinosa, caneriformis, ltexacantha, tetracantlta, geminata, formca~a, of Fabricius. M. Vauthier, one of our best painters of subjects of na· tu:al ~ll~~ory, lu\s ~escribed and figured, Ann. des Sc. Nat., I, p. 161, a species of thts dtVISIOn-cu;vwauda-which is very remarkable for its posteriorly widened ab.domen, tc.rmmated by two long nrcuated spines: it inhabits Java. These spmous species might form a peculiar subgenus. (2) The .!lr. pilip~, clavipu, &c., of Fabricius. His .!1.1·. maculata forms the genus Nephisa, Leach. See the Tab. and llist. des Aran. of Walckenaer. PULMONARilE. 191 We now come to Spiders that are sedentary, like the preceding, b twhich have the faculty of moving sideways, forwards and backu ds in a word, in all directions. They constitute our section of war ' . theLATERIGRAD.IE· The fout· anter10r legs are always longer than the thers' sometimes the second pair surpasses the first, and at others, 0 ' • f h . they are nearly equal; the ammal extends them to the whole o t eir length on the plane of position. . . The chelicer<e are usually small, and their hook 1s folded trans-versely, as in the four preceding tribes. Their eyes, always eight in number, are ft·equently very unequal, and form a segment of a circle or crescent; the two posterior lateral ones are placed farther back than the others, or are nearer to the lateral margin of the thorax. The jaws, in most of them, are inclined on the lip. The body is usually flattened, resembling a Ct'ab; the abdomen is large, rounded, and triangular. These Arachnides remain motionless on plants, with their feet txtended. They make no web, simply throwing out a few solitary threads to arrest their prey. Their cocoon is orbicular and flattened. They conceal it between leaves, and watch it until the young ones are hatched. MionoMMATA, Lat.-Sparassus, Walck. Jaws straight, parallel and roumied at the end; eyes arranged four by four, on two transverse lines, the posterior of which is longest, and arcuated backwards. The second legs, and then the first, are the longest; the ligula is semicircular( 1 ). Microm. smaragdula; .flr. smaragdula, Fab.; .IJ.r. viridissima, De Geer; Clerck, Aran. Suec. pl. 6, tab. iv. A medium size; green; the sides edged with light yellow; abdomen greenish yellow, intersected on the middle of the back by a green line. It ties three or four leaves in a triangular bundle, lines the interior with a thick layer of silk, and places its cocoon in the middle; the latter is round, white, and so diaphanous, that the ova can be perceived through its parietes. The eggs are not agglutinated. M . .!i.rgelas; Dufour, Ann. des Sc. Phys., VI, p. 306, XCV, 1; Walk.,Hist. des Aran., IV, ii. This animal, whose specific appellation will remind the French naturalists of one of their most (1) M. Walckenaer places this genus in that series which is composed both of the Vagabnnda: and the Sedentaria:, such as the .!J.ttre or our Saltici, the Thomisi, Philodromi, Drassi, and Clubianre, and which have but two hooks to the tarsi. |
