TRAP-DOOR SPIDERS, 285 



again immersed in spirit. This would (I have 

 frequently found it so in other spiders) cause even 

 the hard integument of the cephalothorax to contract, 

 and so cause the eyes to shrink up together into a 

 closer group, as well as to sink down into the cuticle, 

 making some of them appear smaller than they 

 really are. Alternate drying and wetting again in 

 spirit would also account for the yellowish brown 

 colour of the eyes, whereas in the male of the Mentone 

 spider the eyes of the hinder row are pearly grey, and 

 of the front row dark grey. Beyond these diffe- 

 rences I can find no distinction between them. 



The male of the present species is very nearly 

 allied to both IV. incerta (p. 276) from the Pyrenees, 

 and N. dubia (p. 280) from Digne, of both of which, 

 as remarked (I.e.),' the male sex alone is known to 

 me ; it is, however, larger than either, more richly 

 coloured, and more distinctly marked. In all three 

 species the elongated portion of the palpal bulb has a 

 simple point, but in the present spider it is not drawn 

 out so finely and gradually : some portion of its 

 extremity being, though very fine yet really, cylindrical, 

 and not tapering off into a hair-like termination ; 

 the general direction of the palpal bulb is parallel 

 with the radial joint, but the point which is equally 

 curved is directed outwards and a little downwards ; 

 the radial joint has four spines at the fore extremity 

 on the upper side (in one of the examples there were 

 however seven on the radial joint of the right palpus), 

 and the genual joint of each leg of the third pair, in 

 both examples from Mentone as well as in M. Aus- 

 serer's example from Nice, has three spines on its outer 

 side. This character was not remarked upon in the de- 



x 



