288 ABACHNIPJfS. 



joint of the chelicerae presents a series of spines, articulated and 

 moveable at base according to the observations of Dufour and 

 forming a sort of rake. 



The tarsi are less pilose underneath than in the preceding division, 

 and their hooks are always exposed. The males of one species, the 

 only ones I have seen, have more complicated organs of generation 

 than those of the preceding division. The principal and scaly piece 

 incloses a peculiar, semiglobular body, terminating in a bifid point, 

 in an inferior cavity *. 



These species, in the dry and mountain districts of the south of 

 Europe and of some other countries, excavate subterraneous galle- 

 ries, which are frequently two feet in depth, and so extremely tortu- 

 ous, that, according to Dufour, it is frequently impossible to trace 

 them. At the mouth, they construct a moveable operculum with 

 earth and silk, fixed by a hinge, which, from its form, nicely adjusted 

 to the aperture, its inclination, its weight, and the superior position 

 of the hinge, spontaneously shuts, and completely closes the entrance 

 of their habitation, forming a kind of trap-door, which is scarcely 

 distinguishable from the surrounding earth. -Its inner surface is 

 lined with a layer of silk, to which the animal clings, in order 

 to keep its door shut and prevent intruders from opening it. If it 

 be slightly raised, it is a sure indication that the owner is within. 

 Unearthed by laying open the gallery front of the entrance, it be- 

 comes stupified, and allows itself to be captured without resistance. 

 A silken tube, or the nest properly so called, lines the inside of the 

 gallery. M. Dufour thinks that the males never excavate. Inde- 

 pendently of his having found them under stones only, they do not 

 seem to him so well prepared with organs adapted to such work f . 

 Without deciding upon this point, we presume, with him, that the 

 My gale carminans of France Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., art. MYGALE 

 is merely the male of the following species : Walckenaer, however, 

 doubts it. 



M. ccemeniaria, Lat. ; Araignee maponne, Sauvag., Hist, de 

 1'Acad. des Sc., 1758, p. 26; Araignee mineuse, Dorthes., Trans. 

 Lin. Soc. II, 17, 8 ; Walck., Hist, des Aran., fasc. Ill, x ; Faun. 

 Fran9, Arach., II, 4; Dufour, Ann. des Sc. Phys, V, Ixxiii, 5. 

 The female Mason Spider, as it is called, is about eight lines 

 in length, of a reddish colour, verging on a brown more or less 

 deep ; edges of the thorax paler. The chelicerse are blackish, 

 each one furnished above, near the articulation of the hook, 

 with five points, of which the internal is the shortest. The 

 abdomen is of a mouse-grey, with streaks of a darker hue. 

 The first joint of all the tarsi is furnished with small spines. 

 The hooks of the last have a spur at their base, and a double 

 range of acute teeth. The mammillae are but slightly prominent. 



* On this point I am contradicted by M. Dufour. I was compelled again to 

 examine the fact, and have convinced myself that I was not mistaken. It is possible 

 the specimens he examined did not present this character. 



f See his excellent memoir entitled " Observations sur quelques Arachnides 

 Quadripulmonaires . ' ' 



