50 Mr. J. Black wall's Characters of some 



they grew naturally, to the Royal Botanical Garden, annually 

 retain their native slowness* in leafing; in as much as the 

 first does not open its buds until the end of April, and the 

 second keeps them closed to the end of the early part of May. 

 The same circumstance has happened to the Red Lime tree 

 {Tilia intbra?) originally brought from Hungary, and which 

 in the Botanic Garden keeps its buds unexpanded till after 

 the beginning of May. 



[To be continued.] 



IX. Characters of some undescribcd Species of Araneidae. 

 By John Blackwall, Esq., F.L.S., Sf-c.f 



Tribe, Tubitel^:, Latreille. 



Genus, Drassas, Walckenaer. 



Drassus cupreus. 



CEPHALOTHORAX oval, convex above, thinly covered with fine, short 

 hairs, marked with slight furrows on the sides, and a narrow, longi- 

 tudinal indentation in the medial line of the posterior region. Eyes dis- 

 posed in front in two transverse rows somewhat curved, having their con- 

 vexity directed backwards; the posterior row is rather the longer of the 

 two, the intermediate eyes, which are oval, and nearer to each other than 

 they are to the lateral eyes of the same row, forming a quadrangle with the 

 intermediate eyes of the anterior row. Mandibles strong, conical, armed 

 with a few teeth on the inner surface, and projecting a little forwards. 

 Maxillae long, convex at the base, underneath, enlarged externally where 

 the palpi are inserted, and at the extremities, which are obliquely truncated 

 on the inner side ; they are depressed and contracted in the middle, and 

 curved towards the lip, which is longer than broad, and truncated at the 

 apex. Pectus ovaL Legs robust, moderately hairy, and provided with a 

 few sessile spines; the fourth pair is the longest, then the first, the third 

 pair being the shortest. Each tarsus has a climbing apparatus on the under 

 side, and two pectinated claws at its extremity. A single dentated claw 

 terminates each palpus. These parts are of a pale reddish brown colour, 

 a fine line of a blackish hue occurring on the margins of the cephalothorax, 

 and a band of the same tint bordering the pectus and lip. Abdomen ob- 

 long oval, thickly covered with short hairs of a bright reddish copper-co- 

 lour, the under part being the palest ; at the anterior extremity, conti- 

 guous to the cephalothorax, is a tuft of long, deep black hairs, a band of a 

 blackish hue, broad before and tapering to a point behind, extending from 

 it, along the medial line of the upper side, rather more than half the 

 length of the abdomen. In some specimens this band is not perceptible. 



* This is also the case with the common Birch tree, which, and Acer 

 ptatanoidcs, according to Linnaeus, "habitant in Europafrigidiore." Being 

 natives of a very cold climate, these trees, although growing in warmer 

 countries, as Naples, Paris, &c, still retain in a remarkable manner their 

 naturally late frondescence ; therefore, it seems that heat cannot produce 

 such an effect on this period of vegetation, as it has been shown to do on 

 germination. — J. H. 

 t Communicated by the Author. 



