PULMONARI./E. 311 



CLOTHO, Walckenaer. 



A singular subgenus. The chelicerae are very small, can separate but little, 

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

 of the 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 preceding 

 one are merely somewhat longer than the first; the tarsi, only, are furnished 

 with spines. The eyes are further from the anterior margin of the thorax 

 than in the following subgenus, 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 proportionably 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, particularly cha- 

 racterises the 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 Clotho Durandii, Lat. M. Dufour found 

 it in the mountains of Narbonne, in the Pyrenees and among the rocks of 

 Catalonia. To this latter naturalist we are indebted not only for our know- 

 ledge 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, 

 an inch in diameter, on the under surface of large stones or in the fissures of 

 rocks. Its contour presents seven or eight emarginations, the angles of which 

 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 establishment, 

 she merely forms two webs between which she seeks for shelter. Subsequently, 

 and I believe at each change of tegument, she adds a certain number of layers. 

 Finally, she lines an apartment with a softer and more downy material, which 

 is to enclose the sac of eggs and young ones. Although the exterior shell is 

 more or less soiled by foreign bodies, which serve to conceal it, the chamber of 

 the industrious architect is always extremely neat and clean. There are four, 

 five, or six egg-pouches or sacculi in each domicil ; they are lenticular, more 

 than four lines in diameter, and formed of a snow-white taffeta lined with the 

 softest down. The ova are not produced till the latter end of December or the 

 beginning of January; the young are to be protected from the rigour of 

 winter and the incursions of enemies all is prepared ; the receptacle of this 

 precious deposit is separated from the web that adheres to the stone by soft 

 down, and from the external calotte by the various layers I have mentioned. 

 Some of the emarginations in the edge of the pavilion are completely closed by 

 the continuity of the web, the edges of the remainder are merely laid on each 

 other, so that by raising them up, the animal can issue from its tent or enter 

 it at pleasure. When the Uroctea leaves her habitation for the chase, she has 



