of Sicilian Spiders. 393 



is described in the following pages by my friend Mr. Blackwall 

 was made. Mr. Blackwall had already named for me a col- 

 lection of spiders made at his request in the olive- and vine- 

 yards about San Concordio, near Lucca; and I thought it would 

 be a matter of interest to find out what resemblance there might 

 be between the Arancid faunge of two places so distant from 

 each other, and so unlike in their geological formation — the one 

 consisting chiefly of limestone, the other of volcanic dc^bris. My 

 chief collecting-ground was in the immediate neighbourhood of 

 Nicolosi, at an elevation of about 3000 feet. The inner slopes 

 of the extinct craters of Monti Rossi and the Val del Bove also 

 furnished good collecting-ground. No species were met with 

 out of the woody region. I was obliged to place the collection 

 of spiders in the same bottle with a collection of Coleoptera ; 

 and this, unfortunately, got broken on the way to Malta ; so 

 that several specimens A\ere destroyed, and many of those 

 saved were partly spoiled. Mr. Blackwall made out twenty- 

 seven species, of which seven appear to him new, and one 

 forms the type of a new genus. 



Sjyhasus italicus, Walck., was as common here as at Lucca. 

 Salticus intentus, Blackw., described as new from specimens 

 taken at Lucca, and S. uitens, also a Lucca species, were not 

 uncommon. Thomisus amoenus^ Blackw., Avas also originally 

 described from a Lucca specimen. The following species were 

 found in Sicily and not at Lucca: — Lycosa agretyca^ Walck., 

 L. andrenivora, Walck., L. alhocincta, n. sp., Salticus lyetilus^ 

 n. sp., Thomisus diversics, n. sp., Philodromus lejndus, n. sp., 

 Cluhiona erratica, Walck., Eresus Walckenaerius, Walck., 

 Tkeridion parvulum, n. sp. (the absence of species of this 

 genus was remarkable), Ctenophora 7nonticola, gen. etsp. nov., 

 Linyphia2yolita, n. sp., Epe'ira apoclisa^ Walck., E. cucurhi- 

 tina, Walck. 



I cannot conclude these brief notes on the locality in Avhich 

 these spiders were collected without thanking Mr. Blackwall 

 for tlie kindness he has ever shown to me and for the great 

 assistance he has always given to me in naming the spi- 

 ders which I have from time to time (since 1853) col- 

 lected. The collection of Araneidte made in the Seychelles 

 is at present under examination by Mr. Blackwall, and con- 

 tains, he informs me, many very interesting forms, most of 

 them quite giants when compared even with the largest 

 European species. 



