296 ARACIINIDES. 



anxiety for the preservation of their eggs, and never abandon them 

 till they are hatched. They are short-lived. 



In some, the first pair of legs, and then the fourth, are the longest. 



SCYTODES, Lat. 



But six eyes arranged in pairs. According to Dufour, the hooks 

 of their tarsi are inserted into a supplementary joint. 



Two species are known, one of which, the thoracic a * inha- 

 bits houses in Europe, and the other, la blonde, Ann. des Sc. 

 Phys. V, Ixxvi, 5, was found under calcareous debris in the 

 mountains of Valencia. It weaves a uniform tube of a thin 

 milk-white tissue, like that of the Dysdera erythrina. 



THERIDION, Walck. 



Eight eyes disposed as follows : four in the middle forming a 

 square, the two anterior of which are placed on a little eminence, and 

 two on each side, also situated on a common elevation. The thorax 

 has the figure of a reversed heart, or is nearly triangular. This sub- 

 genus is very numerous f. 



Therid. malmignatte ; Aranea 13-yuttata, Fab. ; Ross. Faun. 

 Etrusc., II, ix, 10. The lateral eyes separated from each other; 

 body black, with thirteen small, round, blood-red spots on the 

 abdomen. Its bite is considered venomous and even mortal. 

 From Tuscany and Corsica J. 



The A. mactans, Fab., a second species of Theridion inhabit- 

 ing South America, is equally dreaded in that country. This 

 prejudice against these animals appear to originate from their 

 black colour, varied with sanguine spots. 



EPISINUS, Walck. 



Eight eyes also, but they are approximated on a common eleva- 

 tion ; the thorax is narrow and almost cylindrical . 



In the remaining Inequitelse, the first pair of legs, arid then the 

 second are the longest. Such is the 



PHOLCUS, Walck. 



Where the eight eyes are placed on a tubercle, and divided into 

 three groups ; one on each side consisting of three eyes, forming a 

 triangle, and the third in the middle, somewhat anteriorly, and com- 

 posed of two on a transverse line. 



* Scytodes thoracica, Lat., Gen. Crust, et Insect. I, v, 4 ; Walck. Hist, des 

 Aran., I, x, and II, Suppl. 



f See the Tab. and Hist, des Aran., Walcken., the Ann. des Sc. Nat., and Ann. 

 des Sc. Phys. The Araneee bipunct ata, redimita, L., and the A. albo-maculata, Deg., 

 &c., should be referred to this genus. 



J This species is the type of the genus Latrodecta, Walck., which he distinguishes 

 from that of Theridion by the difference in the respective length of the feet ; in this, 

 however, he appears to me to have erred. 



His Theridion benignum, Hist, des Aran. fasc. V, viii, whose habits he has care- 

 fully studied, establishes its domir.il between the clusters of grapes, and defends 

 them from the attacks of various Insects. 



"' Episinus truncutus, Lat. Gener. Crust, et Insect, t. IV, p. 371. Italy, and 

 environs of Taris. 



