356 Mr. R. H. Meade on the British Species of Phalangiidse. 



The eye-eminence is white, and the eyes black. The legs are 

 marked with brown and white patches or rings. The distal ex- 

 tremities of the femora and tibise are white and glistening, while 

 the ends of each joint of the tarsus are dai'k brown, the middle 

 being light-coloured. The sides of each trochanter and the proxi- 

 mal ends of the femora are dark brown. The abdomen is marked 

 with a wide and somewhat indistinct dorsal band of a brown 

 colour, which extends along the anterior two-thirds of its length 

 and dilates posteriorly into two lateral prolongations. Behind 

 this band is a pale transverse space occupying the whole or part 

 of two rings. The terminating rings towards the apex are 

 marked with brown. 



The male, like the same sex in Leiobunus rotundus, is almost 

 hemispherical in shape, the upper surface being flattened. The 

 colour is dull yellowish brown, and the body is nearly concolo- 

 rous ; still the cephalothorax is faintly marked as in the female, 

 the front and central part being white, and the eye-eminence 

 being crested by two pale projecting rings which surround the 

 eyes. The legs are dark brown. 



This species has been confounded witli L. rotundus ; and Mr. 

 Blackwall first called my attention to the distinctions between 

 them. The two species may readily be distinguished by the 

 following characteristics, which I have embodied in the Latin 

 specific character : — 1st. The front of the cephalothorax is dark 

 in the centre in L. rotundus, while the same part is pale in L. 

 BlackwalUi. 2nd. The eyes are surrounded by a black ring in 

 the former and a white one in the latter. 3id. The brown ab- 

 dominal band has a well-defined quadrate extremity in L. ro- 

 tundus, while it terminates in two lateral projections in L. 

 BlackwalUi. 4th. The legs are more distinctly variegated with 

 white and brown rings and marks in the latter than in the 

 former. 



In naming this species (which is met with in woods in dif- 

 ferent parts of England) after Mr. Blackwall, I am only render- 

 ing a slight tribute of gratitude to that eminent naturalist for 

 the many favours and uniform kindness which I have received 

 from him. I may truly say that the little knowledge of arachno- 

 logy which I have acquired has been mainly derived through his 

 assistance j and I really think that the difficulties with which 

 this branch of science was beset in England a few years since 

 (owing to the defective state of our scientific literature on the 

 subject) were so great that, had not Mr. Blackwall kindly and 

 liberally afforded me every information on my first application 

 to him as a perfect stranger, I should have given up the study 

 in despair. 



