and Systematic Arrangement of British Spiders. 99 



glutinated together, in a cocoon of white silk of a loose texture, 

 measuring / T ths of an inch in diameter ; it is nearly of a plano- 

 convex figure, and is connected with the interior surface of an 

 oval cell of white curled silk, on the outside of which bits of soil 

 and other extraneous materials are distributed. This cell is ge- 

 nerally constructed in or near the spider's retreat. 



On the 14th September 1842 I captured an adult female of 

 this species in which the left intermediate eye of the posterior 

 row was entirely wanting. 



68. Ciniflo ferox. 



Cinijlo ferox, Black w. Linn. Trans, vol. xix. p. 116. 



Ctubiona ferox, Walck. Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt. t. i. p. 606. 



Amaurobius ferox y Koch, Die Arachn. B. vi. p. 41 . t. 191 . f. 460,46 1 . 



Notwithstanding the superior size of this spider, it is very 

 commonly confounded with Ciniflo atrox, which it closely re- 

 sembles in form, colour and oeconomy ; both species are found in 

 the same localities, and are abundantly distributed throughout 

 the kingdom. 



Genus Ergatis, Blackw. 



69. Ergatis benigna. 



Ergatis benigna, Blackw. Linn. Trans, vol. xviii. p. 608. 

 Theridion benignum, Walck. Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt. t. ii. p. 337 ; 



Sund. Vet. Acad. Handl. 1831, p. 122. 

 Dictyna benigna, Sund. Consp. Arachn. p. 16 ; Koch, Die Arachn. 



B. hi. p. 27. tab. 83. 6g. 184, 185 ; Uebers. des Arachn. Syst. 



erstes Heft, p. 12. 

 Clubiona parvula, Blackw. Lond. and Edinb. Phil. Mag. Third Series, 



vol. hi. p. 437. 

 Brassus parvulus, Blackw. Research, in Zool. p. 337. 

 Titulus 15, Lister, Hist. Animal. Angl. De Aran. p. 55. 



The various places which arachnologists have assigned to the 

 spiders constituting the genus Ergatis, in their attempts to ar- 

 range the Araneidea in accordance with the natural relations of 

 affinity and analogy, afford a sufficient indication that the task 

 of determining their true position, before the discovery of those 

 marked characters which serve to connect them with the Ciniflo- 

 nida>, was attended by no ordinary difficulties. M. Walckenaer, 

 in his f Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt/ t. iv. p. 500, has formed with 

 the species belonging to the genus Ergatis, previously included 

 by him in the genera Drassus and Theridion, a small group which 

 he has placed at the head of his genus Argus ; but so closely are 

 they allied to the Ciniflones by their structure and functions, 

 being provided with eight spinners and calamistra employed in 

 the construction of their snares, that they cannot be removed 



7* 



