456 



Div. 3. AETICULATA.— AEACHNIDA. 



Class 2. 



were not known in Italy, we consider with Mouffet that the Lycosae, and other large Spiders which 

 do not construct webs, as well as the Solpugae, are the animals collectively known under the former 

 name, and of which several species were described by the ancients. Lister, who first studied the 

 Spiders which inhabit Great Britain with great care, laid the base of a natural distribution, of which 

 those more recently pubhshed are mostly only modifications ; our more recent acquaintance with some 

 species pecuhar to warmer climates, such as as the Mason Spider, described by Sauvages, and other 

 analogous species, the employment of the organs of the mouth, introduced by Fabricius, a more pre- 

 cise study of the eyes and their relative sizes, and the relative length of the legs, have contributed to 

 perfect their arrangement. M. Walckenaer has entered into very minute details relative to these 

 animals, so that it is difficult to detect a species which will not enter into the groups which he has 

 proposed. The presence or absence of a third unguis at the extremity of the tarsi affords another cha- 

 racter not yet sufficiently generalized, of which, however, Savigny has given a slight sketch (see 

 Walckenaer, Faun. Fran^., note at the end of the genus Attus). 



M. L. Dufour, who has pubhshed excellent memoirs upon the anatomy of these insects, and 

 especially studied those of the kingdom of Valencia, where he has discovered many new species, lias 

 paid particular attention to the respiratory organs of the Arachnida, and it is after his remark that we 

 divide them into those which have four pulmonary sacs, with four external spiracles, two on each side 

 close together, and those which have only two.* 



The first of these groups, which includes the Araneides theraphoses of Walckenaer, and some genera, 

 for which he has employed the collective name of Aranea, compose, in our method, the single genus — 



Mygale. 



The eyes are always situated at the anterior extremity of the thorax, generally close together. The 

 chelicerffi and legs are robust. The majority have only four spinneretsf; the two lateral ones are situ- 

 ated rather above the two others, and are longer and 3-jointed, not computing the elevation which 

 forms their footstalk. They form silken tubes for their abode, which they hide either in the earth 

 into which they have burrowed, or under stones, in the bark of trees, or amongst the leaves. 



The Theraphoses of Walckenaer form a first division, characterized by four spinnerets, the two inter- 

 mediate and inferior generally very short, and the two exterior much exserted ; the hooks of the 

 chelicerae folded beneath, along the under side, and not along the inner surfaces. Eight eyes in all, 

 generally arranged upon a small eminence, three on each side, forming a reversed triangle, of which 

 the two upper ones are close together ; the two others in a line between the preceding. The fourth 

 pair of legs and then the first pair are the longest, the third the shortest. 



Those species which have the palpi inserted at tlie superior extremity of the maxillie so that they appear to be 

 six-jointed, the basal joint being long and narrow, and acting as the maxilla; the tongue, ahvays small, 

 and nearly square, and the two fore tibiae of the males with a strong spine beneath at the tip, form the restricted 

 genus — 



Mygale, \ia\c\i.,~&om& of which have not a transverse series of moveable, corneous spines at the upper 

 extremity of the chelicera;, above the place of insertion of the terminal liook. The hair on the under-side of 

 their tarsi forms a thick cushion, generally hiding the ungues. These are the largest species of the family, some 



* ['riie arraof^erocnt of the Spiders t(iven by M. Walckenaer, in \\\i last work, above rfferred tu, dilTers in some respects from that employed 

 by L'ltrcille. The following is an abstract uf his tabular synopsis ; — 



Theraphnses .< F)i|;bt eye 

 'Six eyes 



Araignecs . 



f Eyes nc-nr toj^elher 

 '\ Kycs apiirt . . . 



I Eyes frontal .... 

 '\ Kyes froiitjil and lateral 



(-Eyes friMil ■ 



unci]uai 



Genera. 



Mygale, ^'ilistata, &c. 



MiHsutena 



l>ysilcra, &c 



Uptiotes, &c. 



Ontups arrsnifed ac- 

 conling to the na- 

 ture ul their nests. 



* >Latebricoles . . . 



. Tubicoles . . . . 

 Cellulii-iiles . . . 



Eyes fniiitiU and lateral, ILycosa, Dolophones, &c. Courtuses. 

 . . JKreKus, Attus, &c. . . . Voltij;tusfS 



Eight eyes 



I Kyes frontal, equal-sized 



^ThuniJAUS, Sparassus, &c. Marcheubcs 



Clubitnta, &c. . . . Nidileles . 



Pliolcus, &c Filitttes 



Tegeiiaria (.\ranea}, &c. 'I'apiteles . 



Epeira, &l- ()rl>iti-lcs . 



Liiiyphia N'apiteles . 



Ari;us, &c Iletitcles . 



^Arnyroneta Aquiteles . 



-Vagabondes 



■A 



SedeiitaircH 



-Turrestres. 



Nu^'cuscH . . Aquatiqucs.j 



[Mr. M'Leay, in an article upon some new forms of Arnchiudn, published in the ytunals of Natural History, has thrown doubts upon the 

 general chnracter given of these groups, rij;uriiim>ne sptrcics with only two eyes {Nops Ciuaucbircodp) ; iinother, with llie sternum dividjil iiitu 

 three distinct segments, and one pair of the eyes enormously larj^e {Deinupit Lamia) j another with the head, thiirnx, and abdomen apparently 

 nriiculnted {Mi/rmarachne mrlauorephalu) ; and another with the fore-legs modified, ia structure shurt, thickened, and composed of only six 

 inetc.id of seven joints {Otiothopi IValchenaeri).'] 



t I Imvc observed in Atypus the vestii^es uf two other nippk-s, being those which in the Spiders of the following division are placed betwee* 

 the four exterior ones, and are very viKible ; but us they are here scarcely apparent, I have not counted tlicm an such. 



