Chapter IV: Front Matter (4)

These _Ctenizas_ seem to be peculiarly able to adapt themselves to circumstances, for two young ones, which I sent by post to M. Lucas at the Jardin des Plantes in Paris in little wide-mouthed, cylindrical, blue glass bottles, not only lined the bottles with silk but also closed them at the mouth with a door fitting accurately into a bevelled lip, in the manufacture of both of which fragments of moss, the only material at their disposal, were used in place of earth.[151] It is curious to see how quickly the young trap-door spiders, both of the cork and wafer kinds, when taken from the nest of the mother, will make their own perfect little dwellings in captivity, and I have known them construct tube and door within fifteen hours.

[Footnote 151: M. H. Lucas, in _Bull. des Séances de la Soc. Entom. de Fr._ No. 27 (1874), p. 101.]

I have watched the proceedings of the young spiders, when taken from the mother's nest, in the following species: _Nemesia Manderstjernæ_, _N. Eleanora_, _N. congener_, and _N. Moggridgii_, the three first constructing wafer, and the last a cork nest. All of these very young spiders will excavate their own tubes and bring out pellets of the earth, which closely resemble those carried out from their galleries by the ants.

As has been stated before, the young brood, while still in the mother's nest, will often comprise individuals of different sizes, and though the majority are no larger than the baby-spider represented at Fig. B 2, Pl. IX., _Ants and Spiders_, some may occasionally be found that are fully twice as large.

The little nests which they make in captivity vary accordingly in size. Thus, out of sixteen young taken from the mother's nest (_N. Eleanora_), eleven, three days after capture, had made nests in the earth of a flower-pot, and the wafer doors of six of these nests measured 2 lines across, of four 2-1/2 lines, and of one 3 lines. The first nests of another similar lot of young _Eleanora_ spiders had wafer doors measuring respectively 2, 2-1/2, 2-1/2, 3 and 3 lines. In another case when I captured fourteen young (the entire brood found in the nest of the mother, _N. Manderstjernæ_), after the lapse of five days every one of them had made a nest, but these were smaller and more uniform, ten of the wafer doors measuring 2 lines across, one 1-1/2, and one 2-1/2.

These little spiders need to be kept constantly supplied with flies, which should be killed and placed near their nests; they are often so greedy that they will attempt to drag a house-fly entire down their tubes for which it is much too large, when the door is pushed open, and the fly remains sticking in the entrance to the nest with its legs up in the air. One may even feed these spiders oneself by approaching carefully and, without causing any vibration, pushing the fly, placed on the end of a pencil, within reach of the spider.

I have given my reasons before (_Ants and Spiders_, p. 127) for believing that the trap-door spiders do not as a rule desert their nests, but enlarge them from time to time to meet their own requirements of growth; showing, by a comparison of the measurements of the doors of eight nests in April with those of the same nests in the following October, that all had increased in size.

Subsequent observations have confirmed this; I find that the young spiders taken from the mother's nest enlarge their nests in captivity in a precisely similar way.

Thus, for example, the wafer doors of three young _Eleanora_ spiders, made within a few days after their removal from the mother's nest on February 20th, 1873, and first measured on February 28th, had increased between that date and Nov. 29th following from 2 to 4 lines, 2-1/2 to 4 lines, and 2-1/2 to 6 lines respectively.

It is unfortunate that the male and female spiders are undistinguishable when very young, as it would be interesting to know whether the males construct nests before they take to their adult life, during which they roam from place to place and hide under stones.

In one case fourteen young spiders, forming this entire family taken with a female _N. Manderstjernæ_, made nests; so that unless all of these were females, we have evidence here to prove that the males do commence life by building nests for themselves.

I kept the male _Cteniza Moggridgii_, for ten days on damp earth in captivity, but he made no attempt to excavate or spin, and wandered restlessly about, scarcely touching the flies[152] with which I supplied him.

[Footnote 152: I habitually fed my captive spiders with common house-flies, and it was curious to see how entirely the latter were wanting in any instinctive fear of even the largest spiders. They would creep between the spiders' legs, causing them to start as if electrified, and frequently it was not until the flies, after repeating this annoyance several times, actually walked up to and almost touched the fangs of the spider, that they were punished for their ignorance and presumption.]

Seeing this I could not venture to prolong his captivity, as I feared to risk injuring a specimen which was quite unique and which there was little likelihood of my being able to replace. It is rather curious that M. Simon should also have found one male, and one only, of the closely-related _Ct. fodiens_ of Corsica, and that his specimen should be, like mine, the only one known.

Bearing in mind the curious problems which arise as to the affinities of the flora and fauna of the Alpes Maritimes with that of Corsica, the fact that the species of _Cteniza_ which is found at Mentone, though allied to, is yet distinct from the insular species, gains a new interest.

We ask ourselves whether the Corsican species sprang from that of the Alpes Maritimes, or _vice versâ_; or again, whether both diverged in remote times from a common ancestor. Questions such as these cannot be answered at present, but I hope the day may come when the geographical distribution of the various existing forms of life will be traced with sufficient accuracy to enable us to follow on the map the lines along which affinity travels; and thus point out at once the probable relationship between two given forms, and also the route by which they reached their present stations. Records of local varieties, and the careful discrimination between forms which have small but permanent points of difference, thus acquire an importance which they would not otherwise possess.

The geographical distribution of trap-door spiders is of peculiar interest on account of the sedentary habits maintained during life by the females. Most animals are capable of travelling long distances, or of being accidentally transported from place to place in such a way that colonies are frequently established far away from the parent settlement, and we are left in the dark as to whence they came and who are their nearest relations. But, in the case of spiders inhabiting true trap-door nests, this is not so; they begin life immediately on leaving the parent nest by making homes for themselves near at hand which they will not desert, and there is no likelihood of their being accidentally carried from place to place unless occasionally by running water. Thus it happens that whenever we find the same trap-door spider at two distant localities, we may feel tolerably sure that the species has travelled from one to the other by gradual extension, and that, either now or in times past, it occupied all the intervening country.

For instance, we find _Nemesia Eleanora_ at Mentone, and again at Cannes, while it has not yet been detected at Nice, Antibes, nor any other intermediate point; but according to this hypothesis, this species either does actually live, or has done so formerly, along the whole intervening line. I will now enumerate the species alluded to in the preceding pages and indicate briefly the habitats which they are known with certainty to occupy.

I. _Atypus piceus_, Sulzer (ex Simon). The builder of the tubular nest the silk lining of which is figured at A in Pl. XIII. It is stated by M. Simon[153] to be common in all the centre, east, and west of France, but it remains doubtful whether this exact form is found in England or not, the true characters and habits of the English species being still uncertain.

[Footnote 153: l.c. sup., p. 183.]

II. _Cyrtauchenius elongatus_, Simon, constructing the funnel type of nest. It inhabits the neighbourhood of Fez in Morocco.

III. _Cteniza Moggridgii_, Cambridge (formerly described under the name of _Ct. fodiens_[154]), one of the many builders of a nest of the cork type; I have hitherto found this spider only at Mentone and San Remo. It will probably be discovered in shady valleys in the neighbourhood of Nice.

[Footnote 154: _Ants and Spiders_, p. 89.]

IV. _Ct. fodiens_, Camb. (_Ct. Sauvagii_, Rossi ex Simon): large nest of cork type; inhabits Corsica. It has been said that the species found near Pisa (_Ct. Sauvagii_) is the same as that which is so common in Corsica, but it is desirable to have further confirmation of this.

V. _Ct. Californica_, Camb.--Large nest of cork type. Found near Visalia, about 350 miles south of San Francisco, by Mr. G. Treadwell.

VI. _Nemesia cæmentaria_, Latr.--Nest of cork type. Only known with certainty to inhabit the neighbourhood of Montpellier.

VII. _N. Moggridgii_, Camb. (formerly described under the name of _N. cæmentaria_, Latr.[155])--Nest of cork type; is found at San Remo, Mentone, Cannes, Hyères, and Marseilles. Its range probably extends some distance to the eastwards, but I doubt whether it does so towards the west, for there I think it likely that it will be found to be replaced by the typical _cæmentaria_.

[Footnote 155: _Ants and Spiders_, p. 92.]

VIII. _N. Simoni_, Camb.--Nest of the single-door unbranched wafer type, discovered at Bordeaux in May, 1874.

IX. _N. suffusa_, Camb.--Nest of single-door branched wafer type, discovered at Montpellier in May, 1873.

X. _N. Eleanora_, Camb.--Nest of double-door unbranched wafer type; is found at San Remo, Mentone, Cannes, Vaucluse near Avignon. M. Simon says[156] he has also found it at Digne, in the Basses Alpes.

[Footnote 156: E. Simon, _Aranéides nouveaux du Midi de l'Europe_, in "Mém. Soc. Roy. Sc. de Liège," 2^{me}. ser. tom. v. p. 30.]

XI. _N. congener_, Camb.--Nest of double-door branched wafer type; discovered at Hyères in May, 1873.

XII. _N. Manderstjernæ_, Koch, in Ausserer (formerly described under the name of _N. meridionalis_, Costa).[157]--Nest of double-door, branched, cavity wafer type; is found at San Remo, Bordighera, Mentone, Nice, Cannes, and Hyères (apparently very rare at the last-named place).

[Footnote 157: _Ants and Spiders_, p. 101.]

XIII. _N. meridionalis_, Costa.--Structure of nest doubtful (see description in _Ants and Spiders_, p. 138). Found near Naples and in Ischia. M. Simon has discovered a spider in Corsica which he considers the same as that described by M. Costa under the name of _meridionalis_, but it seems desirable, in order thoroughly to establish this conclusion, that specimens of the spiders and their nests from these distant habitats should be compared together.

We can scarcely suppose that the real geographical distribution of the above-named twelve species is as restricted as it would appear to be from the above enumeration, and there is little doubt, I think, that many more habitats will be added in time. Indeed, our knowledge of the habits and distribution of these spiders can only as yet be said to be in its infancy, the whole subject being, for the most part, new and untrodden ground.

But, it may be asked, what are the chances in the future for the discovery of undescribed spiders and types of nests: and what reward of this kind may the travelling naturalist expect in order to compensate him for the time and pains which such a search demands, and which must divert him in a great measure from making other collections?

The reply is not doubtful.

Europe alone, most probably, contains many trap-door spiders the specific characters and habits of which are at present unknown; and as for the warmer regions of other parts of the globe, we only know enough to lead us to surmise that still stranger and more startling discoveries await us there.

Dr. L. Koch's description of the very remarkable branched-wafer nest from Australia, alluded to above (p. 217), and the fragmentary specimens of giant cork-nests from the same country exhibited at the British Museum, give us a hint of what the Antipodes will some day reveal to us; while a stray allusion to a trap-door nest found near Lake Dilolo, in Southern Africa, by Livingstone,[158] affords an indication of their existence in another quarter of the globe. Hitherto but little importance has been attached by naturalists to the study of the nests of trap-door spiders, but a knowledge of their structure is often of the greatest assistance, and will, I venture to predict, be found to afford a clue leading to the discovery of many new species; for it not unfrequently happens that, while two spiders appear so much alike as to pass for representatives of the same species, their nests are totally dissimilar and proclaim them, as in fact they are, quite distinct from one another. For an example of this we have only to turn to the seven species of _Nemesia_, treated of in the foregoing pages, of which six construct dissimilar nests, and only two, building nests of the cork type, make them alike, though the general resemblance between the spiders themselves is extraordinarily close. Thus far, indeed, it will be seen that no two distinct species of European trap-door spider make wafer nests of the same type, each kind of wafer nest having its own peculiar spider.

[Footnote 158: "A large reddish spider (_Mygale_), named by the natives 'sclàli,' runs about with great velocity. Its nest is most ingeniously covered with a hinged cover or door, about the size of a shilling, the inner face of which is of a pure white silky substance like paper, while the outer one is coated with earth precisely like that in which the hole is made, so that when it is closed it is quite impossible to detect the situation of the nest. Unfortunately the cavity for breeding is never seen except when the owner is out, and has left the door open behind her."--_Dr. Livingstone_, _from_ "_Popular Accounts of Travels in South Africa_," chap. xvii. p. 221.]

This strikes me as a very curious fact, and I await with interest the discovery of new species of wafer-building spiders in order to learn whether this will continue to hold good or not.

That such discoveries will be made I entertain no doubt; indeed, I have reason to believe that, even at Mentone, where perhaps more pairs of eyes have been at work searching for trap-door spiders than anywhere else, new species still remain to be detected. In April, 1873, the surface door of a wafer-nest together with a very small portion of the tube was brought to me from the summit of the Aiguille mountain, near Mentone. I was greatly surprised to learn that a trap-door spider could live in such a situation, for the earth on that plateau, which has an elevation of 4032 feet above the sea, is always frozen hard for weeks and even months together during the winter, and snow frequently lingers there. The spider, therefore, which endures these conditions is scarcely likely to be of the same species as any one of those inhabiting the lower country. The trap-door spiders of these spurs of the Maritime Alps, are probably of distinct species from those of the plains, but they are absolutely unknown at present.

Then the males of several species, as, for example, those of _Nemesia Simoni_, _N. suffusa_, _N. congener_, and _N. Moggridgii_, have yet to be discovered; while of the habits of the males in general we know little or nothing.

Indeed, there is no one species with the habits of which we can say we are thoroughly acquainted, and we must admit that up to the present time these ingenious little architects have been at least as successful in concealing themselves from the intrusion of naturalists as from the attacks of their proper enemies.

Surely these trap-door spiders, which have lain quiet in the earth century after century, have hidden themselves long enough from our inquisitive admiration, and the time has now come for us to seek them out and learn their ways.

SPECIFIC DESCRIPTIONS OF TRAP-DOOR SPIDERS,

BY

THE REV O. PICKARD-CAMBRIDGE.

Genus Cteniza, Latr.

Cteniza Moggridgii, sp. n., Plate XX., fig. A, p. 254.

_Cteniza fodiens_ (Camb.)? ♀ in _Harvesting Ants and Trap-door Spiders_, J. T. Moggridge, 1873, p. 89, Plate VII., excluding synonyms there quoted.

Adult male length 5-1/2 lines, length of cephalothorax 3 lines, breadth 2-1/2.

The cephalothorax is of a short, broad-oval form, its length being only half a line greater than its breadth; it is flattened-convex above, and depressed near the margins, the _caput_ (when looked at in profile) scarcely rising above the level of the thorax. At the junction of the caput and thoracic segments is a deep, circularly-curved indentation, or fovea, the curve of which is directed backwards; the extremities of this indentation are continued obliquely forwards on either side, forming the normal ones which indicate the junction of the caput and thorax. Rather more than one-third of the distance between the above curved indentation and the fore margin of the caput is a very perceptible and deep but narrow, slightly curved, transverse indentation which divides the caput into two distinct parts; the curve of this indentation is directed forwards. The normal thoracic indentations are well marked, but not very strong; the surface of the thorax, though shining, appeared under a lens to be covered with fine rugulosities. Its colour is yellow-brown; a large triangular patch on either side of the caput being tinged with orange, and the rest suffused with dark brown. The caput is of a dark reddish yellow-brown, showing (in spirit of wine) two longitudinal bars, or strong lines, of a clearer orange yellow-brown colour; its surface is glossy, though, under a lens, the sides of the fore part are very finely striated or rugulose. These lines begin behind the extremities of the hinder row of eyes, and gradually converge to a point at the thoracic junction; the ocular region and central longitudinal line of the fore-segment of the caput have some long and very prominent black bristles. When alive, the cephalothorax appears to have been suffused with a purplish hue, corresponding to that of the abdomen and other parts.

The _eyes_ form a rectangular figure, whose fore side is a little shorter than the hinder one, and whose transverse, or longest, diameter is as nearly as possible double the length of its shortest one; the eyes of the central or fore-central pair are small, and separated by a diameter's distance from each other. The hind laterals are the smallest of the eight, and each is almost contiguous to the hind-central nearest to it, this latter being of a sub-triangular form, and separated from the fore-central on its side by an interval equal to that which divides the two fore-centrals, but less than that which separates each fore-central from the fore-lateral on its side. Looked at as in two transverse rows of four each, those of the foremost row are darkish coloured, while those of the hinder row are pearly white. Omitting the eyes of the hind-central pair, the remaining three on either side form as nearly as possible an equilateral triangle.

The _legs_ are long, moderately strong, their relative length being 4, 1, 2, 3. They are of a dark brown colour, generally paler on the under sides, furnished with hairs, fine bristles, and spines; the latter are numerous and strong beneath the metatarsi and tibiæ of the first and second pairs; on those of the third pair they are less strong and more uniformly disposed; on those of the fourth pair they are fewest and least conspicuous. The genual joints of the third pair have some strongish spines on the outer side; the right leg has eight, the left nine. The toothing of the superior tarsal claws does not appear to be uniform on the different legs of the same example; on those of the fourth pair there were five teeth; on those of the first pair eight or nine, with two others, quite rudimentary, towards the point of the claw; and even on one of the fourth pair of legs one of the claws had six, the other five teeth. The tarsal claws of the second pair are toothed throughout nearly their whole length with from eight to ten teeth; on _one_ of the third pair the teeth were but five or six, while on the other there were on one claw but three ordinary teeth and a much stronger one a little way off in front of them, on the second claw only a single strong tooth about the middle, and a smaller one close to its base.

The _palpi_ are long and rather slender, measuring rather over six lines in length; they are similar in colour to the legs, and excepting a few--from twelve to fourteen--short strong spines on the upper side of the extremity of the digital joint, furnished with hairs only. The cubital joint is more than half the length of the radial; this latter is equal in length to the humeral joint, and nearly as long as the femora of the first pair of legs. The digital joint is short, of an oblong oval form, broadest at its extremity. The palpal organs consist of a nearly spherical corneous lobe, prolonged at its fore extremity into a long, slender, tapering, beak-like spine, curving upwards (_i.e._, with its point near to the radial joint), and inwards.

A broad, conspicuous, shining, corneous band, of a deeper red-brown than the rest, runs round the middle (or equatorial line) of the spherical portion of these organs, covering the greater part of their surface.

The _falces_ are of moderate length and strength, and of ordinary form. They are similar in colour to the legs, and furnished in front, chiefly on their inner edges, with hairs, and at their extremities on the inner sides, with a few, but not very strong nor conspicuous, short spines; their under side (along which the fang lies) is toothed on the inner edge only; the fang is strong and curved, but presents nothing remarkable in form, nor could I detect either denticulation or serration.

The _maxillæ_ are strong, straight, divergent, with a small prominent point at the inner extremity of each; they are as strong, but not so long, as the basal (coxal) joints of the legs of the first pair, of a yellow-brown colour, furnished with hairs, but with no spines of any sort or size.

The _labium_ is similar in colour to the maxillæ, and somewhat quadrate in shape, rounded at the apex; it is furnished with hairs only.

The _sternum_ is of a sub-pentagonal form, much broader behind than in front; its colour is dull yellowish-brown, and it is furnished with hairs, leaving two largish, bare, round, slightly impressed patches, not far from each other, in a transverse line near the middle.

The _abdomen_ is short-oval in form, and very convex above; it projects a little over the base of the cephalothorax, and its upper side is of a purplish grey-brown hue, mottled with a pale dull whitish-yellow, and furnished sparingly with hairs. The sides and under side are of a uniform dull whitish-yellow. The _spinners_ (four in number) are, as usual, of very unequal size, those of the superior pair longish, strong, three-jointed, and up-turned, the inferior pair short but stout, consisting of one joint only and pretty close together.

The _female_ (as it is conjectured to be) of this species was described, in the work to which the present publication is supplementary, from examples found at Mentone. There is little doubt now but that it is not _Ct. fodiens_, Walck., but whether or not identical with the male above described is not absolutely certain. I think myself (with Mr. Moggridge, see p. 195) that it is so, in spite of some differences in the relative size of the eyes, the toothing of the under side of the falces, and the denticulation of the tarsal claws. With regard to the eyes and falces, I am not inclined to lay special stress upon these differences. It is found that in other groups of spiders whose cephalothorax varies very markedly in development in the two sexes, differences of this nature occur. In the present genus, the male has an almost flat caput, while the female has a strongly elevated one; and with respect to the variation in the tarsal claws, no special weight can be attached to it in the present instance, since these claws are not uniformly denticulated in the different feet of the same individual. Another difference is the absence in the male of sundry small but distinct tooth-like spines at the apex of the labium and the inner corner of the base of the maxillæ; the female is also wanting in regard to the very characteristic transverse indentation which divides the caput of the male into two parts. I can, however, trace in the female the slightest possible corresponding depression, scarcely amounting to an indentation, and placed rather nearer to the junctional thoracic pit.

With regard to the differences between this species and _Ct. Sauvagii_, Latr. (_Ct. fodiens_, Walck.), size alone would suffice to distinguish them; two females of the latter now before me measuring 13 lines in length; while the male (_Aran. nouv. ou peu connus du Midi de l'Europe_, par Eugène Simon, Mém., Liège, 1873) measures 8 lines (17 mm.) and the female rather over 14 lines (30 mm.), the fore-central eyes in the female of _Ct. Sauvagii_ appeared to be smaller than those in _Ct. Moggridgii_ and placed rather farther forwards, but the eyes in both are otherwise remarkably similar both in size and position. The males, however, cannot be confounded inasmuch as, according to M. Simon, no trace of any transverse indentation on the caput exists in _Ct. Sauvagii_.

The denticulation of the tarsal claws in the females of both species is similar, but M. Simon does not mention this portion of the structure of the male he describes of _Ct. Sauvagii_.

The adult male of _Ct. Moggridgii_ above described, was found behind the stones of an old wall at Mentone, but not in any kind of nest.

Nest-making, and excavating for that purpose, is, probably, no part of the work of the adult males in this and other allied genera, and hence we can see a reason for differences in the development of the caput, and the denticulation of the falces. The usual habitat of the females and their nests is in damp and shady spots, whereas _Ct. Sauvagii_ constructs its nests in dry exposed banks.

_Habitat._ Mentone and San Remo.

Cteniza Californica, sp. n., Plate XV., fig. B, p. 198.

Adult female; length very nearly 14 lines; length of the cephalothorax, 5-1/2; greatest breadth of ditto, 5; breadth of fore part of caput, 4 lines; length of caput rather over 3 lines.

The _cephalothorax_ of this spider is rather broader in proportion to its length than that of _Ct. Sauvagii_, Walck., Sim. = _Ct. fodiens_, Walck. The convexity, or elevation, of the caput is also less, but that of the thorax is greater, so that (when looked at in profile) the profile line of the two forms a tolerably even and continuous slope, interrupted only by the thoracic fovea; the profile, however, of the occiput is curved.

The thoracic fovea, or junctional indentation, is strong, deep, and semilunar in form, the horns of the crescent pointing forwards; the other normal indentations are well marked, but those which divide the caput from the first thoracic segment do not unite with the extremities of the junctional fovea, being in this respect unlike _Ct. Moggridgii_, but more like _Ct. Sauvagii_. The _clypeus_, although transversely impressed, yet slopes forward more gradually than in either of those species, its breadth is about equal to that of the ocular area, or amounts to half that of the facial space. The colour of the cephalothorax, taken from the specimen preserved in spirit of wine, is a deep reddish-yellow brown, gradually getting paler towards the margins. When alive, I understand that the general colour of the whole spider was a dark blackish chocolate brown, the legs and cephalothorax being darker than the abdomen; there are a few prominent bristly hairs in the medial line both before and behind the ocular area.

The _eyes_ form a narrow transverse oblong figure, its length being about two and a half times its width, and its fore side is a little the shortest; the fore-lateral eyes are large and oval, and by far the largest of the eight; the rest do not differ much in size, though perhaps the hind laterals, which are also oval, are a little the largest; the longest diameter of these, however, is less than half the longest diameter of the fore laterals. The interval between the fore and hind laterals is small, only equal to the shortest diameter of the hind lateral; and this interval is nearly double that which separates each hind lateral and the hind central nearest to it. The hind laterals and hind centrals form an almost perfectly straight line, the former being very slightly indeed within the straight line of the former; the intervals which separate the fore centrals from each other, and each of them from the fore lateral on its side, are as nearly as possible equal, though very slightly, if at all, less than that which separates each of them from the hind central on its side: the interval which separates the fore laterals is double the length of the longest diameter of one of them.

The _legs_ are short and very strong; they are like the cephalothorax in colour, but paler underneath the femora; this joint in the third pair is proportionally much stronger than in the other legs; all are furnished with hairs, bristles, and spines, a group of erect bristles among the rest occupies the fore part of the upper side of the metatarsi of the first and second pairs; strong spines of different lengths are thickly placed beneath and on the lower part of the sides of the tibiæ tarsi and metatarsi of the first and second pairs. On the tarsi and metatarsi of the third and fourth pairs similar spines are distributed more uniformly over the whole surface of the joints, and on the genual joint of the 3rd pair there is one short strong spine near its extremity on the outer side, those on the tibiæ both of the third and fourth pairs being confined to a few on the outer side, and towards the lower side only. Each tarsus terminates with three claws, of which the two superior ones have a single strong tooth towards the base on the lower side.

The _palpi_ are rather long, strong, and similar in colour to the legs. They are furnished with hairs, bristles, and spines; of the latter the radial and digital joints have some short and strong ones, pretty thickly grouped along both their outer and inner sides; the digital joint ends with a single untoothed claw.

The _falces_ are strong and massive, more so than in _Ct. Sauvagii_, but of normal form. They are furnished with hairs and bristles, and with strong spines near their inner extremities on the upper side; the fangs are strong, folded along the under side of the falces in a furrow which is toothed along either edge. The colour of the falces is a rich deep red-brown.

The _maxillæ_ are strong, straight, divergent, with a prominent point at the inner extremity, and some very short, strong, tooth-like spines at their base; their colour is dull yellow-brown, and, with the labium and sternum, they are thickly clothed with short strong hairs.

The _labium_ is dark yellow-brown, tipped slightly with black; it is of a somewhat semilunar form, and has a few very short tooth-like spines near its apex.

The _sternum_ is of a rough oval form, broadest behind and shorter and broader in proportion than that of _Ct. Sauvagii_ and _Ct. Moggridgii_; its colour is dull yellow-brown, and it is destitute of the two shining bare patches conspicuous in both those species.

The _abdomen_ is large, short-oval, broadest behind and very convex above; it is of a dull yellowish-brown colour, thickly mottled with minute dark points seen through a lens to be little rings, from the centre of each of which springs a bristly hair; the underside is paler; the spinners and spiracular openings are normal. As observed above, the colour of the abdomen was rather different in life; it was then of a deep blackish chocolate brown, with an indistinct longitudinal line along the middle of its fore part on the upper side, intersected by a similar line at right angles; but these lines soon disappeared after death; the specimen had been in spirit of wine some months before the present description was made.

A single example, with its tubular nest of the cork-lid type, was received alive from California in 1873, and appears to have been hitherto undescribed; though no larger than _Ct. Sauvagii_, it is yet a stouter and more massive spider, and may readily be distinguished by the large size of its fore-lateral eyes, the narrower ocular area arising from the far greater proximity to each other of the eyes of each lateral pair, the less convexity of the caput, and the greater convexity of the thorax, as well as by its being altogether a darker coloured spider, and having shorter stouter legs.

_Habitat._ Visalia, 350 miles south of San Francisco, California.

Gen. Nemesia, Savigny.

Nemesia Cæmentaria, Plate XIX., fig. B, p. 229.

_Mygale cæmentaria_ (Latr.) _Hist. Nat. des Crust._ t. vii. p. 164.

--♀--Walck., _Hist. Nat. des Ins. Apt._ 1, p. 235.

---- ---- _Cuvier's Règne Animal_, ed. Paris. 20 vols. 18--? Pl I., _A. Dugès del._ ♂ _et_ ♀.

Adult female, length 7 to 9 lines.

_Cephalothorax_ oval, truncated and almost equally broad at each end; the upper surface is moderately convex, the caput elevated a little above the rest, and equally rounded on the sides and upper part; the profile of the whole cephalothorax forms a general sloping slightly curved line, broken by the thoracic junctional pit or fovea, which is narrow but strong, and gently but equally curved, the convexity of the curve directed forwards; the thorax next to this fovea is rather gibbous, but not over any great extent of surface; the other normal indentations are tolerably strong; the colour of the cephalothorax is yellow-brown, darkest on the sides of the caput, and along the thoracic indentations, palest on the margins, forming a pale marginal border indistinctly vandyked on the inner edge. The surface is clothed, but not densely, with yellowish-grey adpressed hairs; there are a few black bristles in a straight transverse line, directed forwards from the lower margin of the clypeus; also a few more bristles curved and of various lengths before and behind the ocular area, their points meeting over this area, and a row of strong, nearly erect ones in a longitudinal central line from the ocular area to the junctional fovea; besides these are a few more, finer and less conspicuous, along the middle both of the caput and thorax; the colour on either side and in front of the ocular area is orange yellow-brown, and joining with this a broad band of the same runs backwards from the ocular area to the thoracic fovea. The band begins as wide as this area, it then directly enlarges a little, and thence tapers slightly and gradually to its termination, forming a truncate wedge, with the margins rather irregular, but on the whole a little curved. This band is not immaculate, there being two dark yellow-brown tapering lines or bars along the greater part of its length; these bars begin from each outer pair of eyes of the hinder row, and tapering to a fine line, converge to the thoracic fovea, but do not quite meet. It is important to note the exact form and distribution of the central band and these tapering bars, as their differences from the character of the similar part in another closely allied species are strongly specific; the above description holds good in above twenty examples before me.

The _eyes_ are in two transverse lines, forming an area whose length is rather less than 2-1/2 times its width; the foremost line is curved, and the curve directed backwards, the hinder one is also curved and in a similar direction, but less strongly, looking laterally the extreme margin of the four eyes of the hinder row forms a straight line. Considered as in pairs, those of the fore-central pair are separated by an interval equal to that which separates each from the fore-lateral and hind-central nearest to it; the fore-laterals are divided by about two and a half diameters; they are the largest of the eight, only slightly however, in some examples, larger than the hind-laterals. Each of them is separated from the hind-lateral on its side by not quite half the diameter of the latter, and each hind-lateral is very nearly but not quite contiguous to the hind-central on its side; the hind-centrals are roughly rounded, smallest of the eight, though in some examples equal in size to the fore-centrals, and are separated from the fore-central nearest to it by about one diameter, which gives a clue to the absolute distance between the eyes of the foremost pair. The four lateral eyes are oval, the fore-centrals round; those of the foremost row are darkish coloured, while those of the hinder row are pearly white.

Although it is of great importance to observe as accurately as possible the relative position and size of the eyes, yet we must be prepared to find exceptions to the rule derived from the most exact measurements in any individual instance.

In the present species the above conclusions, as to position and size, are drawn from a consideration and comparison of 20 examples, and are, it is believed, pretty true, but yet in one example, one of the hind central eyes was but half the size of the other, and in another example one of the same eyes was but one-fourth of that of the other, a mere dot in fact, and the relative size of the respective lateral eyes of the two rows do not appear to maintain exactly the same proportions in all individuals. The height of the clypeus appeared to be as nearly as possible half that of the facial space.

The _legs_ are strong, moderately long, their relative length 4, 1, 2, 3, though in some examples those of the second and third pairs are equal in length; in others, those of the third pair are slightly longer than those of the second; here again, as with the eyes, although the relative proportion of the legs of spiders is an important specific point, and in general tolerably reliable, yet accurate observation and measurements prove that there are small differences in individual instances. The legs are yellow-brown in colour, furnished with hairs, bristles, and a few spines. The outer sides of the genual joints of the third pair are destitute of spines; in two instances only out of 20, this joint had a single, not very conspicuous, spine. The superior tarsal claws have 4-5 minute pectinations underneath near their base.

The _palpi_ are moderately long and strong, and similar in colour and general armature to the legs; they terminate with a single, strong, sharply curved untoothed claw.

The _falces_ are of a deep black red-brown colour, strong and prominent, and flat, but not cut away, on their inner sides; they are furnished on their upper sides with black bristles and yellowish-grey hairs, disposed in longitudinal lines; these bristles are strongest and most numerous on the inner margin of the upper side, increasing in strength forwards where, near the extremity, are some strong spines.

On the inner edge of the under side of each falx is a row of teeth, and each fang is also denticulate or finely serrate, beneath towards its hinder part.

The _maxillæ_ are strong, cylindrical, and divergent; and each has a small bluntish angular prominence at the extremity on the inner side; their inner margin has a thick fringe of pale reddish hairs, the fore surface being clothed (as ordinarily) with dark bristly hairs, and there are a few black minute tooth-like spines in a line (sometimes in a small group) near the inner corner of their base.

The _labium_ is short, broad, its breadth nearly double its length, and the upper corners rather rounded off; there are some strongish bristles, mostly towards the apex, but no tooth-like spines nor denticulations.

The _sternum_ is oval, rather convex, broadest towards the hinder part, which is pointed at this extremity but hollow-truncate before.

The _abdomen_ is sparingly clothed with hairs; it is of a stoutish regular oval form, and of a dull brownish yellow colour; its fore extremity on the upper side is thickly blotched with deep blackish-brown, and the whole length spanned by a series of about five curved, or slightly angular, stoutish bars or chevrons, formed of more or less confluent, dark, blackish-brown blotches and markings; a more or less indistinct line of a similar nature also divides the fore part of the upper side of the abdomen longitudinally. There is some variety in the extent, depth, and distinctness of these markings, but the figures given (Pl. XIX., p. 229, figs. B, B 1) show the appearance of an average example.

It must be remembered that this description is made from examples in spirit of wine, and that in life the markings (especially on the cephalothorax) are often considerably obscured by the hairs on the surface; when seen through spirit the actual tints of colour are sometimes misrepresented, but the characteristic markings are seen more distinctly.

The lower part of the sides and the underside of the abdomen are of a uniform pale dull brownish-yellow; the spinners of the superior pair are short, strong, and 2-jointed; those of the inferior pair are very minute, and near together at the base of, and almost between, the others.

Adult and immature females were found in 1873-4 abundantly at Montpellier in France, in unbranched tubular nests closed at the surface with a close-fitting "cork" lid.

In _Harvesting Ants and Trap-door Spiders_, p. 92, a spider inhabiting similar nests, and found commonly at _Cannes_ and Mentone was described as _N. cæmentaria_, Latr. The subsequent discovery however of a very closely allied, but certainly distinct, species in abundance at Montpellier (the locality in which the original _N. cæmentaria_, Latr., was found) makes it more than probable that the _Montpellier_, and not the Mentone, species is the true _N. cæmentaria_. Certainly as yet no other species more likely than this to be the one described by Latreille has been found at Montpellier; in fact, the one here described is the common one found there, and alone answers to Latreille's character of having a nest with a lid of the cork type.

It has become therefore necessary now to record the Mentone species under another name, and under that name, "_N. Moggridgii_" (p. 273) will be noted the specific differences by which the two species may be at once distinguished from each other.

The male of the spider here described has not been yet found. A description is given (p. 276) of a male spider, _Nemesia incerta_ (no doubt closely allied), found by M. Eugène Simon at Digne; but reasons will be given why it is not probable that this Digne spider should be, as conjectured by M. Simon, the male of the Montpellier species. Whether the _N. carminans_ (Latr.) is the male of _N. cæmentaria_ (Latr.) or not, is another question, and one surrounded with some obscurity and difficulty. Latreille described _N. cæmentaria_ (female) from Montpellier, and _N. carminans_ (male) from Aix in Provence; the latter being specially characterized by a bifid point to the prolongation of the palpal bulb; L. Dufour appears subsequently to have considered _N. carminans_, Latr. (male) to be the male of _N. cæmentaria_, and Latreille appears to have agreed with L. Dufour upon this, _vide_ Walck. _Ins. Apt._, i. p. 236; but Dufour afterwards (_Ann. Gen. Sc. Phys._, tom. v. Bruxelles, 1820, p. 103) introduced an element of confusion into the question by describing _N. carminans_ as having the point of the palpal organs simple, "nullement bifid," and throwing out a suggestion that it might be the male of _N. Sauvagii_, Latr., (= _N. pionnière_ or _fodiens_, Walck.) Latreille upon this (_Vues générales sur les Aranéides, Acad. Roy. des Sc._, 1830, pp. 64, 65) explains Dufour's suggestion as an inadvertence, but takes no notice of the difference of the form of the palpal organs as described by him; at the same time however Latreille explains why, probably, Walckenaer "still considers (in his _Faune française_) _N. carminans_ to be a distinct species." We may conclude from this that Latreille never altered _his_ opinion that his own _N. cæmentaria_ and _N. carminans_ were the two sexes of the same species; and we shall probably rightly agree with Walckenaer that Dufour had another species before him, which he wrongly (l.c.) described as _N. carminans_.

Subsequently again a male and female spider, evidently of one species, were figured by Dugès to illustrate _N. cæmentaria_ male and female in Cuvier's _Règne Animal_--Edition in 20 vols. not numbered and without date, published in Paris, "_accompagnée de Planches par une réunion de disciples de Cuvier, MM. Audouin, Blanchard, Deshayes, Aleide d'Orbigny, Doyère, Dugès, Duvernoy, Laurillard, Milne Edwards, Roulin, et Valenciennes_." Of these figures, that of the male has the point of the palpal organs distinctly bifid, and the nest figured is of the cork-lid type.

On the whole it may be concluded that the male of the true _N. cæmentaria_, Latr., will be found to have the bifid point to the palpal organs, but the question cannot be considered settled until further researches at Montpellier and Aix (in Provence) shall have furnished _males_ of the _N. cæmentaria_ now described, and _females_ of the bifid pointed male--_N. carminans_, Latr.--for of course it is possible that Latreille's _first_ views of the distinctness of _cæmentaria_ and _carminans_ may be the correct ones.

The characters of the species now described accord so well with the figures of the female in Dugès' plate (above mentioned) that little doubt can be entertained of _their_ identity, and if so there would seem to be little doubt also, but that further research at Montpellier will reveal a male similar to the male figured by Dugès.

_Habitat._ Montpellier, France.

Nemesia Eleanora.

_Syn. Nemesia Eleanora_, Cambr., male and female, in _Harvesting Ants and Trap-door Spiders_, by J. T. Moggridge, p. 180, Pl. XII. and woodcuts, p. 109.

_Nemesia Alpigrada_ (Simon) male, _Aranéides nouv. ou peu connus du Midi de l'Europe_, 2^e Mémoire. Liège, 1873, 2^e sér. t. v. p. 27 (separate copy.).

There is but little to add to the descriptions given (l.c. _supra_). It must however be noted that the spines on the outer side of the genual joints of the third pair of legs, then supposed to be a characteristic of the present species only, are now found to exist in several others, with some small exceptions in regard to number, and also in respect to strict uniformity, on both legs of the same individual. In _N. cæmentaria_ (p. 264), however, there is rarely found even a single spine on either of these joints; and not one out of ten examples of another species, _N. Simoni_ (p. 297), had even one of these spines.

Shortly after the publication of _Harvesting Ants and Trap-door Spiders_ the male of this species was described by M. Simon (l.c.) from two examples taken at Vaucluse near Avignon.

_Habitats._ San Remo, Mentone, Cannes, Vaucluse near Avignon, and, according to M. Simon, Digne, Basses Alpes.

Nemesia Moggridgii, sp. n., Plate XIX., fig. C, p. 229.

_Syn. Nemesia Cæmentaria_, Cambr., in _Harvesting Ants and Trap-door Spiders_, (by J. T. Moggridge), p. 93, Pl. VIII.

This spider is exceedingly closely allied to the foregoing and was thought to be the true _N. cæmentaria_, Latr., until subsequent researches at Montpellier (the locality where Latreille's types were found) have resulted in the belief that the Montpellier, rather than the Mentone species, is that described by him. At present the females only of the two species are known, and these may readily be distinguished by the pattern on the caput.

In the foregoing (the _Montpellier Spider_) a broad orange yellow-brown band runs from the ocular area to the thoracic fovea, tapering gradually to that part, where it is truncated, forming a wedge with the point cut off. This wedge-shaped band is charged with two longitudinal, more or less distinct, dark brown irregularly-tapering lines, running throughout its whole length and converging towards each other but not touching.

In the _Mentone Spider_ there are three orange-yellow-brown well-defined bars or longitudinal lines between the ocular area and the thoracic fovea; the central bar tapers and reaches from the eyes to the fovea, the lateral ones never more than two-thirds of the distance from it to the eyes, diverging a little from the central bar as they run forwards. These two lateral bars are not straight, _i.e._, their margins are more or less notched or roughly angular, forming in some examples a line of a somewhat zigzag or bent character. It may perhaps be observed that when the two dark brown lines which run along the broad orange-yellow-brown band on the caput of the Montpellier spider, are well marked, this also leaves three longitudinal yellow lines, somewhat similar to those just described in the Mentone species, but there is this difference even then (and it is constant throughout a long series of examples), the lateral lines in the Montpellier spider _always run through to the eyes_, equalling in length the central line, while in the Mentone spider the _lateral bars never reach the eyes_, always stopping short of the ocular area, by one-half, or nearly so, of their length.

Another distinction which appears constant is the form of the thoracic fovea; in the Montpellier species this forms a slight but uniform curve; in the Mentone spider it is more sharply bent at the apex (or centre of the curve), forming in most examples a bluntish-angular line.

In the eyes there appears to be but little reliable difference; if there be any at all constant, it seems to be that in the present (Mentone) species the fore-laterals are constantly smaller than the hind-laterals, and sometimes smaller than the fore-centrals. A close examination, however, of the relative size and position of the eyes in a series of examples, lowers one's estimation of the _absolute_ value of this character in the determination of the species of _Nemesia_; still it is a specific character not by any means to be overlooked, though to be used guardedly, and often with great reservation.

In regard to other characters and general description there seems but little to add to the description given (l.c. _supra_), except that the labium has no denticulations at its apex and the outer sides of the genual joints of the third pair of legs are generally without spines. Occasionally (in one example out of sixteen) there is a single spine on this joint, of either the right or left leg. In this character, however (differing from several others described below), the Montpellier spider agrees with that from Mentone.

In both spiders, the fangs of the falces are (in some instances at least) denticulated. Also in regard to the relative lengths of the legs, like those of the Montpellier spider, the second and third pairs of the Mentone species are not constant in their relative proportions, though the differences either way are very slight, and there is often no difference whatever.

The nest and habits of the two species appear to be nearly, if not quite, similar.

In naming the present species (at the suggestion of M. Eugène Simon) the writer of these descriptions gladly testifies to his appreciation of the great value attaching to Mr. Traherne Moggridge's investigations of the habits of the closely-allied species of this very difficult, though most interesting group of spiders.

M. Eugène Simon (_Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr._ 1873, Bull, c.), perceiving the difference between the present species and the one known to himself as _N. cæmentaria_, Latr., concludes it to be identical with _N. meridionalis_, Sim. Examples, however, of this latter, from M. Simon's cabinet, show that they are very distinct.

On _N. meridionalis_, Sim., see p. 289; and on _N. cæmentaria_, Sim., p. 280, M. Simon has, I understand, subsequently admitted the error of his conclusion, published l.c. _supra_.

_Habitat._ San Remo, Mentone, Cannes, Hyères, and Marseilles.

Nemesia incerta, sp. n., Plate XIX., fig. D, p. 229.

Adult male, length slightly above 4-1/2 lines.