178 F. P. SMITH ON SOME BRITISH SPIDERS TAKEN IN 1907. 



Gnaphosa lapidosa, var. cuprea (Bl.), 1834. 



1834. Drassus cupreus, Bl., Researches in Zool. 

 1861. ,, cupreus, Bl., Sp. G. B. I. 

 1881. ,, cupreus, Camb., Spiel. Dorset. 



Gnaphosa lapidosa, var. macer (Thor.), 1875. 

 1875. Drassus macer, Thor., Sv. Ah. Hancll. 



Typical examples of the species generally known as Drassus 

 lapidosus, Walck., occurred very plentifully on the shore between 

 St. Leonards and Bexhill. In company with these, and also at 

 Camber, near Bye, there were forms which distinctly approached 

 the typical D. cupreus of Blackwall. A comparison of both these 

 forms with Epping Forest specimens and with the darker 

 northern types which are generally considered to be D. cupreus, 

 Bl., has convinced me that there is no really reliable character 

 by which the two species can be differentiated. The general 

 colouring, the epigynum of the female and the dentation of 

 the male falces are the characters upon which reliance seems 

 to have been placed, and all of them are, in this group, notoriously 

 variable. The tibial apophysis of the male palpus certainly shows 

 some trifling difference, inasmuch as in the lapidosus type it is, 

 when viewed in profile, conical and straight-sided, whereas in 

 cupreus it is usually wider at the base and somewhat excavated 

 laterally. I find, however, that this distinction is unreliable, 

 as every shade of transition seems to occur even in individuals 

 from the same locality and apparently all of one type. 



Continuing this investigation I find that Drassus macer, Thor., 

 also seems to lack any distinctive character which will separate it 

 from D. lapidosus, Walck., of which it appears to be merely a 

 dwarfed form. Several Continental writers have been for some 

 time past of this opinion, and I formerly upheld the species only 

 as the result of an examination of the late F. Pickard-Cambridge's 

 specimens; but a careful comparison of my drawings of these 

 examples has clearly demonstrated that they were wrongly 

 identified. 



I propose, therefore, to specifically unite D. cupreus, Bl., and 

 D. macer, Thor., with D. lapidosus, Walck., and to regard them 

 as varieties of this species. D. macer, Thor., appears to be rather 

 rare. D. cupreus, Bl., and D. lapidosus, Walck., are abundant, 

 the former in the north and the latter in the south of England. 



