M. T. Thorell on Aranea lobata. 189 



which has been admitted ever since*. We see, however, from 

 this that Fabricius had no knowledge of Pallas's A. lobata 

 beyond that which he derived from the Spicil. Zool., and 

 moreover that he was as unacquainted with the above-cited 

 passage in Pallas's ^ Naturgesch. merkw. Thiere ' as any one 

 of the various authors who have occupied themselves with 

 Olivier's A. sericea. 



Walckenaer (Hist. Nat. d. Ins. Apt. p. 117) believes, cu- 

 riously enough, that the true Ep. sericea does not belong to 

 the European fauna. This is the more unaccountable, from 

 the fact that Olivier, who first described this spider under the 

 specific name sericea j expressly says that he found it " fre- 

 quently in Provence." Walckenaer nevertheless accepts as 

 properly a European species the E. dentata (Risso), differing 

 from A, sericea merely in markings, which, coming from Nice, 

 is consequently from almost the very same region (south of 

 France) where Olivier found his Aranea sericea ! Walckenaer 

 seems to be as little acquainted from personal observation with 

 E. dentata (his description of it is a mere extract from Risso) 

 as with any European example of A, sericea. 



The specimens of the species in question, however, which I 

 have seen, and which I collected in Italy in the tracts about 

 Naples, where Costa also found ^'Epetra sericea'''' '\j agree 

 perfectly not only with Pallas's A. lobata^ but also with the 

 descriptions and figures which Olivier, Latreille, Walckenaer, 

 and Audouin have left us oi A. (E.) sericea. They lack the 

 markings which belong to " E. dentata " according to Risso's 

 (and Walckenaer's) representation of that form, which, how- 

 ever, is certainly only a colour variety of "JS'. sericea ^^ 1. 

 lohata. 



To "-£'. dentata''^ Walckenaer rightly refers Lepechin's 

 above-named ''''Aranea (. . . abdomine . . . lobato, &c.)" [A. ar- 

 gentea^ Gmel.), which, as we have already seen, is allowed by 

 Pallas himself to be identical with his A. lohata ; here also 

 should undoubtedly be referred Argyopes prcelautus^ Koch, 

 from Turkey (tracts of the Balkan), as Walckenaer has sup- 

 posed. 



* Walckenaer says (Hist. Nat. d. Ins. Apt. ii. p. 116), with reference 

 to Epeira argentata (Fabr.), " Confdrez pour cette espece Pallas, * Spici- 

 legia Zoologica,' fasc. 9. p. 46, tab. 3. figg. 13 et 14" (it should be " 14 & 

 15 ") — that is to say, the descriptions and figures of A. lohata^ which, 

 however, do not in the least agree with Walckenaer's description of E. 

 argentata, but do agree very well -wdth that which he gives of^. sericea. 

 E. argentata^ moreover, comes from America (" India," Fabr.). 



t O. G. Costa, ^ Cenni zoologici ossia descrizione sommaria delle specie 

 nuove di animali discoperti in diverse contrade del regno nell' anno 1834,' 

 p. 16 (1834). 



Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 4. Vol. ii. 14 



