314 AIIACIINIDES. 



anterior legs are always longer than the others ; sometimes the second pair 

 surpasses the first, and at others, they are nearly equal; the animal extends 

 them to the whole of their length on the plane of position. 



The chelicene are usually small, and their hook is folded transversely, as in 

 the four preceding tribes. Their eyes, always eight in number, arc frequently 

 very unequal, and form a segment of a circle or crescent; the two posterior 

 lateral ones are placed farther back than the others, or are nearer to the lateral 

 margin of the thorax. The jaws, in most of them, are inclined on the lip. 

 The body is usually flattened, resembling a Crab; the abdomen is large, 

 rounded, and triangular. 



These Arachnides remain motionless on plants, with their feet extended. 

 They make no web, simply throwing out a few solitary threads to arrest their 

 prey. Their cocoon is orbicular and flattened. They conceal it between 

 leaves, and watch it until the young ones are hatched. 



The Laterigradse form several genera, such as Micrommata, Senelops, &c. 



Other Araneae whose eyes, always eight in number, extend more along the 

 length of the thorax than across its breadth, or at least almost as much in one 

 direction as the other, and which form either a truncated curvilinear triangle 

 or oval, or a quadrilateral, constitute a second general division, or the VAGA- 

 BOND*:, which I have thus named to distinguish them from those of the first, 

 or the Sedentariaj. 



Two or four of their eyes are frequently much larger than the others; the 

 thorax is large and the legs robust; those of the fourth pair and then the two 

 first, or those of the second pair, are usually the longest. 



They make no web, but watch for their prey and seize it, either by hunting 

 it down, or by suddenly leaping upon it. 



This division forms two sections, each consisting of several genera. In the 

 first, or that of the CITIGBAD^E, we find the genus 



LYCOSA. Lalreille. 



The eyes of the Lycosse form a quadrilateral, but one as long as or longer 

 than it is wide; the two posterior eyes are not placed on an elevation. The 

 first pair of legs is evidently longer than the second, but shorter than the 

 fourth, which, in this respect, surpasses all the others. The internal extre- 

 mity of the jaws is obliquely truncated. The ligula is square but longer than 

 it is broad. 



Almost all the Lycosae keep on the ground, where they run with great 

 swiftness. They inhabit holes accidentally presented to them, or which they 

 excavate, lining their parietes with silk, and enlarging them in proportion 

 to their growth. Some establish their domicil in chinks and cavities in 

 walls, where they form a silken tube covered externally with particles of 

 earth or sand. In these retreats they change their tegument, and as it 

 appears, after closing the opening, pass the winter. There also the females 

 lay their eggs. When they go abroad they carry their cocoon with them, 

 ' attached to the abdomen by threads. On issuing from the egg the young 



