of Sici/ian Spiders. 393 



is described in the tullowini;; pages by my friend 3Ir. BUickwall 

 was made. Mr, Black wall had alri'ady named for me a col- 

 lection of spiders made at liis 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 Araneid fauna3 of two places so distant from 

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

 consisting chietiy of limestone, the other of volcanic debris. 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 Colcoptera ; 

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

 that several specimens were 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. 



Sj)hasus itali'cHs, Walck., was as common here as at Lucca. 

 Salticiis intentuSj Blackw., described as new from specimens 

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

 uncommon. Thomisus amaenus^ Blackw., was 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. aJhocincta, n. sp., Salticus 2>etilus, 

 n. sp., Thomisus diversus^ n. sp., Philodronuis lejndus, n. sp., 

 Clubiona erratica, Walck., Erebus Walckenaerius^ Walck., 

 Theridion parvnlum^ n. sp. (the absence of species of this 

 genus was remarkable), Ctenophora 7?zo/«#ecoZa, gen. etsp. nov., 

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

 tina, Walck. 



I cannot conclude these brief notes on the locality in which 

 these spiders were collected without thanking ^h\ Blackwall 

 for the 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 Araneidae 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. 



