ORDER PULMONARI^. 405 



of drassus. The two upper spimierels, or the most lateral, 

 are long; but that which, according to M. Dufour, particu- 

 larly characterizes his uroctea, or our clotho, is, that in pla^e 

 of the two intermediate spinnerets, we find two pectiniform 

 valves, opening and closing at the will of the animal. 



As^'et but a single species is known, Uroctea., 5 — Maculata, 

 Dufour, Annal. des. Scienc. Phys. V. Ixxvi. 1 ; Clotho Duran- 

 dii, Latr. Its body is five lines in length, of a chestnut-brown, 

 with the abdomen black, having five round, yellowish spots 

 above, four of wdiich are disposed transversely in pairs, and the 

 last or odd one is posterior ; the feet are hairy. We see by the 

 plates of the great work on Egypt, that M. de Savigny found it 

 in that country, and that he proposed to form with it a new gene- 

 ric group. M. le Comte Dejean brought it from Dalmatia, and 

 the Chevalier de Schreibers, director of the imperial cabinet of 

 Vienna, has sent me some individuals collected in the same 

 places. M. Dufour has also found it in the mountains of Nar- 

 bonne, in the Pyrenees, and in the rocks of Catalonia. We 

 are indebted to him, independently of the knowledge of the 

 external characters of this arauei'd, for some curious observa- 

 tions respecting its habits. " It makes," he tells us, " at the 

 inferior surface of large stones, and in the clefts of rocks, a 

 cocoon, in the form of a cap or little dish, a good inch in 

 diameter. Its contour presents seven or eight emarginations, 

 of which the angles alone are fixed upon the stone, by means 

 of bundles of threads, while the edges are free. This singular 

 tent is of an admirable texture : the exterior resembles the 

 finest taffetas, composed, according to the age of the worker, 

 of a greater or less number of doublings. Thus, when the 

 uroctea, as yet young, commences to establish its retreat, it 

 only fabricates two webs, betw^een Avhich it remains in shelter. 

 Subsequently, and, I believe, at each moulting, it adds a cer- 

 tain number of doubles. Finally, when the period marked 

 for reproduction arrives, it weaves a cell for this very purpose, 



