^92 ARACHNIDES, 



are not indented; very small hooks; the shortness of the body and 

 length of tlie legs produce a resemblance to the Crab-Spiders or 

 Thomisi. The relative length of these organs differs but little ; the 

 fourth pair, and then the preceeding one are merely somewhat longer 

 than the first ; the tarsi, only, are furnished Avith spines. The eyes 

 are further from the anterior margin of the thorax than in the fol- 

 lowing subgenvis, and are approximated and arranged as in the 

 genus Mygale of Walckenaer ; three on each side form a reversed 

 triangle ; the two others form a transverse line in the space comprised 

 between the two triangles. The jaws and the ligula are proportiona- 

 bly smaller than those of the same subgenus ; a short projection or 

 slight dilatation on the external side of the jaws, gives insertion to 

 the palpi ; the jaws terminate in a point ; the ligula is triangular and 

 not nearly oval as in Drassus. The two superior or most lateral 

 fusi are long, but what, according to Dufour, jjarticularly charac- 

 terizes his Uroctese or our Clothos, is, that there are two pectiniform 

 valves which open and shut at the will of the animal *, in place of the 

 two intermediate fusi. 



But a single species is known, the Uroctea 5-maculata, Du- 

 four, Ann. des Sc. Phys., V, Ixxvi, 1 ; Clotho Durandii, Lat. 

 The ])ody is five lines in length, of a fine chcsnut colour; abdo- 

 men lilack ; five small, round, yellowish spots above, four of 

 which arc arranged transversely in pairs, and the last or fifth 

 posterior ; legs hairy. It is evident from the plates of the great 

 Avork on Egypt, that M. Savigny found it in that coimtry, and 

 proposed forming a new genus with it. Count Dejean brought it 

 from Dalmatia ; and Schreiber, director of the Imperial Museum 

 of Vienna, has sent me specimens captured in the same coun 

 try. M. Dufour also found it in the mountains of Narbonne, 

 in the Pyrennees and among the rocks of Catalonia. To this 

 latter naturalist we are indebted not only for our knowledge of 

 the external characters of this spider, but for many curious 

 observations relative to its habits. " She constructs," says he, 

 " a shell resembling a calotte or patella an inch in diameter, on 

 the under surface of large stones or in the fissures of rocks. Its 

 contour presents seven or eight cmargi nations, the angles of 

 Avhich are alone attached to the stone by silken fasciculi, the 

 margin being free. This singular tent is admirably woven. 

 The exterior resembles the very finest taffeta, formed, according 

 to the age of the animal, of a greater or less number of layers. 

 Thus, when the young Uroctea first commences her establish- 

 ment, she merely forms two wel s, between which she seeks for 

 shelter. Subsequently, and I believe at each change of tegument, 



* I Lave seen, in a well preserved specimen, six fusi, of which tlie two superior 

 •were much the longest and terminated by an elongated joint, forming an elliptical 

 lamina, and the other four small, the inferior ones particularly, and arranged in a 

 square. The anus, placed under a little membranous projection resembling a cly- 

 peus, was furnished on er.eh side with a pencil of retiactile hairs. These pencils 

 are the parts named by Dufour pectiniform valves, and are distinct from the two 

 intermediate fusi, which are concealed by the two inferior ones. 



