and rare British Spiders. 255 



male ; and in one or two examples (out of thirty-five) there 

 was a very faint trace of annulation. 



The examples from which this description has been drawn 

 were found close to the railway station in the Island of Port- 

 land (at the beginning of June 1875), on the edge of the 

 Chesil Beach, among pebbles and brickbats and other debris ; 

 they did not appear to be running in sunshine of their own 

 accord, but were very active when disturbed, and easily 

 escaped among the loose pebbles of the beach. I have also 

 two examples (male and female), exactly similar in all respects 

 to those found in Portland, from a similar habitat near 

 Brighton, and also another pair received from Bourg d'Oisans 

 in Normandy. 



Although this spider is so nearly allied to L. Jiuviatilis, Bl., 

 that if the two forms should be found inhabiting the same 

 localities it will be scarcely possible to uphold their specific 

 distinctness, yet the absence of annulation on the legs, the 

 simple and constantly attenuated form of the central yellow 

 thoracic stripe, with the slight difference in the form of the 

 palpal organs, are sufficient to mark its specific distinctness 

 from L. Jiuviatilis, in which the legs of the female are always 

 annulated, generally very distinctly, and traces of annulation 

 are commonly visible in the male, though some few males 

 certainly have no annulation at all. Now and then also a 

 male of L. Jiuviatilis will be found with no dilatation on the 

 centraL'yellow stripe behind the eyes ; but out of many females 

 I have not seen one in which this dilatation is not apparent and 

 generally strongly marked ; it is usually also visible, though 

 less strong, in the males. L. Jiuviatilis is often wholly covered 

 with grey hairs, giving it a uniform hoary appearance ; this 

 is slightly so, in some cases, in regard to the present species 

 also. 



Lycosa agricola, Thor. 



Lycosa arenaria, C. Koch, Die Arachn. xv. p. 36, tab. 514. figs. 1441-42. 



L. Jiuviatilis, Blackw. Spid. Gr. Brit. p. 31, pi. ii. fig. 13. 



L. agricola, Thor. Bee. Crit. Aran. p. 61; id. Syn. Europ. Spid. p. 278. 



Dr. Thorell, in his ' Synonyms of European Spiders,' page 

 280, thinks that probably Mr. Blackwall had before him, in 

 his description of L. Jiuviatilis, examples also of L. agrestis, 

 Westr. I do not think so myself : I have examined many 

 examples of both sexes of L. Jiuviatilis sent me by Mr. Black- 

 wall from North Wales ; and there is certainly no example of 

 L. agrestis among them. Dr. Thorell also appears to have 

 some doubt as to the specific distinctness of L. agricola from L. 

 aqrestis ; but the short oblique process of the palpal organs of 



18* 



