58 



extremity pointed, inner border sliglitl}^ convex above lip, concave towai-ds 

 lip ; superior border truncated, forming an obtuse angle with external border, 

 "vvhicli slopes away to the insertion of the palpiis. Maxillse and labium 

 bi-ownish-black, sjjarsely clothed with fine brownish hairs. Sternum heart- 

 shaped ; black, and somewhat hairy, especially towards the border. Vulva, a 

 simple transverse opening without appendages ; palish-brown, situated on the 

 summit of a mammillary protuberance. Falces vertical, rather small, 

 terminating below at the iipper surface of the maxillge, which project slightly 

 beyond them. Abdomen sub-globular, very convex above, overhanging the 

 base of the cephalothorax, anus and spinnerets not visible from above, nj:)per 

 surface a ricli glossy blue-black, thinly clothed with black hairs, anteriorly are 

 two interrupted yellow lines, formed like notes of interrogation with the 

 convexities opposed, these are not visible from above ; from the mid-point of 

 the upper siirface to the anus runs a bright scarlet band with vandyked 

 borders ; it may be described as consisting of four confluent lozenge-shaped 

 spots ; there was a slight indication of a yellowish bordering to the stripe. 

 Under surface of abdomen black, with an obscure red j^fitch on either side of 

 the vulva ; a similar patch anteriorly to ihe spinnerets. 



I have been thus 2:)articular in my description, because, amongst sj)iders, 

 individiials of different species so closely resemble one another, that a very 

 minute description is necessary to enable an observer to decide the species 

 with certainty. 



ISTow, with regard to the venomous attributes of this spider. It belongs to 

 a genus which contains several species also reputed poisonous ; thus Walckenaer 

 says of the Latrodectus malmignatus, an allied species, common in Sardinia, 

 Corsica, and parts of Italy, — " This species is certainly poisonous ; its bite 

 causes, they say in man, pain, lethargy, and sometimes fever. M. Liugi Totti, 

 Physician to the Hospital of the Madeline at Volterra, in a long memoir which 

 he has sent us, confirms all that has been written concerning the effects of this 

 spider by Boccone, Heyder, Rossi and others ; however, its mandibles are not 

 very strong and it is not large (about half an inch in length)." Mr Abbot, 

 (who was ignorant of what had been written in Europe concerning the 

 Latrodectus) in his Georgian Spiders, says, — " Of three species (of Latrodectus) 

 which he has figured, that their bite in America is iindoubtedly venomous." 

 (Walckenaer Histoire des Insectes Ajyteres, pp. 643, 644.) The fact is extremely 

 interesting, that in a genus of spiders containing comparatively a very small 

 number of species, these species are so widely distributed over the world as to 

 be found in Eurojje, America, and New Zealand, all being highly noxious, and 

 all, with one or two doubtful exceptions, being black vdth red markings ; for 

 colour is of all characteristics the most variable, and most particularly so in 

 spiders. 



So much has been fabled concerning the bite of the tarantula, a spider of 



