438 Mr. J. Blackwall's Characters of some 



form a square, the other four are disposed in pairs on the sides of the- 

 square, each pair being seated obliquely on a projection of the cephalotho* 

 rax. Mandibles strong, conical, perpendicular, armed with a few minute 

 teeth on the inner surface. Maxillse powerful, convex underneath, en- 

 larged at their extremities, and inclined towards the lip, which is large, 

 oval, and rounded at the apex. Pectus heart-shaped. These parts are of 

 a very dark brown colour, the pectus being thinly covered with whitish 

 hairs. First pair of legs the longest, then the second, the third pair being 

 shorter than the fourth ; these organs and the palpi are robust, and their 

 colour is brown. The two superior tarsal claws are deeply pectinated, and 

 the inferior one is inflected near its base. The upper tarsal joint of the 

 posterior legs is provided with a combing apparatus of fine spines pre- 

 cisely similar in structure and situation to that of Clubiona atrox; it is also 

 employed in the same manner, and for a like purpose. Abdomen oval, 

 convex above, projecting over the base of the cephalothorax; along the 

 middle of the superior part a broad, dentated, dark brown band extends, 

 which is generally bisected by an irregular, transverse, white line, between 

 which and the spinners is a series of obscure, angular lines of a pale brown 

 or whitish hue, whose vertices are directed forwards; a deep border of 

 dull white, which becomes narrower as it approaches the spinners, encom- 

 passes the dark brown band ; sides dark brown mottled with white ; under 

 part of the abdomen dull white, a broad, dark brown band, marked with a 

 few white spots, occupying the medial line. Plates of the spiracles brown. 



Length, from the anterior part of the cephalothorax to the extremity of 

 the abdomen, -^ -ths of an inch ; length of the cephalothorax -^ ; breadth 

 ■^j breadth of the abdomen -A-; length of an anterior leg ±; length of a 

 leg of the third pair £* 



The male, though smaller than the female, resembles it in colour and 

 in the relative length of its legs. The third and fourth joints of the palpi 

 are short, the latter having a small, pointed apophysis at its superior ex- 

 tremity in front, and an obtuse one on the outer side of its anterior ex- 

 tremity; the fifth joint is oval, convex externally, concave within, com- 

 prising the sexual organs, which are highly developed, with a spiny process 

 of a spiral form projecting upwards from the superior part, and are of a 

 dark reddish brown colour. 



I discovered this small species, which belongs to M. WalckenaeVs fifth 

 section of the genus Clubiona, or the Farcce, in the autumn of 1832, among 

 heath, in Frafford Park, near Manchester ; and in the spring" of 1833, I met 

 with it in great abundance on gorse bushes, at Oakland, in Denbighshire. 

 Its web, which is whitish and irregular in structure, is fabricated at the 

 extremities of the twigs of gorse. It pairs in May, and in the same month 

 the female constructs two or three contiguous, lenticular white cocoons 

 of a compact texture, measuring about £th of an inch in diameter, which 

 she attaches to the stems of gorse surrounded by her web, enveloping them 

 with the refuse of her prey. In each cocoon she deposits from ten to 

 thirty spherical eggs of a pale yellow colour, which are not agglutinated to- 

 gether. The combing apparatus on the superior tarsal joint of the pos- 

 terior legs, from the influence it -has upon their ceconomy, forms a striking 

 characteristic of the spiders constituting the section Parcce. 



Young females of this species were placed in glass jars, and fed with in- 

 sects till they had completed their moulting and attained maturity. I then 

 introduced to them adult males, taking care to remove the latter as soon 

 as a connexion had been consummated in the usual manner, namely, by 

 the application of the remarkable organs connected with the fifth or ter- 

 minal joint of their palpi to the orifice situated between the plates of the 

 spiracles in the females. I never, in a single instance, suffered the sexes 



