and Systematic Arrangement of British Spiders. 41 



which is specifically identical with Drassus sylvestris, among the 

 synonyma of Clubiona lapidicolens, supposing it to be that spe- 

 cies in an immature state (Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt. t. ii. p. 479). 

 Now as I have taken adults of both sexes in the woods about 

 Llanrwst, I am prepared to affirm that they are invariably much 

 smaller than Clubiona lapidicolens, and that they also differ from 

 it materially in structure, having the maxillae curved towards the 

 lip, and all the essential characters of a Drassus. For these rea- 

 sons the name given to it by me is retained. 



In July the female constructs a lenticular cocoon of white silk 

 of a fine but compact texture, measuring T 3 oths of an inch in dia- 

 meter, which she places in a cavity formed in the ground beneath 

 stones and lined with silk, depositing in it about 123 whitish 

 eggs of a spherical form, not agglutinated together. She is 

 greatly attached to her cocoon, and is with difficulty compelled 

 to abandon it. 



A specimen of this spider was transmitted to me from Berwick- 

 shire in the spring of 1849 by Mr. Hardy. 



54. Drassus cupreus. 



Drassus cupreus, Blackw. Research, in Zool. p. 345. 



rufus, Koch, Die Arachn. B. vi. p. 33. tab. 189. fig. 453, 454. 



Though the Drassus rufus of M. Koch, identical with Drassus 

 cupreus, is regarded by M. Walckenaer as a variety of Clubiona 

 livida (Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt. t. ii. p. 479), yet I have ascer- 

 tained by the inspection of numerous specimens, in every stage 

 of growth, that it possesses all the characteristics of a Drassus in 

 so marked a degree that it might be selected as a type of the 

 genus ; consequently, the name I have conferred upon it is re- 

 tained. 



As regards the papillae connected with the inferior spinners of 

 this species, which occurs under stones in various parts of Great 

 Britain, the same law of development holds good to which atten- 

 tion has been directed in treating upon Drassus ater and Drassus 

 sericeus; moreover, I may remark that the number of the papillae 

 is not uniformly the same even in adults of any of these spiders, 

 but that the two minute ones belonging to each spinner are 

 always present. 



In June the female constructs a lenticular cocoon of white silk 

 of a fine but compact texture, measuring |ths of an inch in dia- 

 meter, in which she deposits about 118 spherical eggs of a pale 

 yellow colour, not agglutinated together. The cocoon is enve- 

 loped in a large sac of very fine white silk, usually placed in a 

 cavity of the earth underneath a stone, and this sac generally 

 comprises the female. , 



