420 CLASS ARACHNIDES. 



body is seven or eight lines in length, of an ash-coloured 

 blonde, furnished with down, and more or less spotted with 

 black. The upper part of the abdomen presents from its 

 middle, as far as the end, a band, formed by a series of small 

 spots, in the form of a hatchet, of this last colour. There is a 

 longitudinal band under the belly, equally black, but gi-ey in 

 the middle. The feet are ringed with black. This species 

 was discovered in the environs of Bourdeaux by the naturalist 

 to whom I have dedicated it. M. Dufour has since found it 

 in the most arid mountains of the kingdom of Valencia ; it 

 runs with velocity, the feet being laterally extended. Its 

 feet, cushioned, and furnished with claws, give it the facility 

 of hooking itself on the smoothest surfaces, and in every posi- 

 tion. It fixes, at the lower face of the fragments of rocks, a 

 cocoon, which has much analogy, from its contexture, with 

 that of the clotho of Durand. It retires there to shelter itself 

 from bad weather, to escape from its enemies, and to lay its eggs. 

 It is an oval tent, nearly two inches in diameter, applied on 

 the stones, pretty much after the manner of the marine patellae : 

 it is composed of an external envelope, of a yellowish taffeta, 

 as fine as the peel of an onion, but capable of resistance, and 

 of an interior sheath, more supple, softer, and open at the two 

 ends. It is through apertures, provided with valves, that the 

 animal comes out. The cocoon for eggs is globular, placed 

 underneath its dwelling, so that the spider can cover it, and 

 it contains about sixty eggs. 



The same naturalist has described and figured another spe- 

 cies, the M. a iarses Spongieux (Ann. des Scienc. Phys. V. 

 Ixix. 6), which he found on a tree in a garden in Barcelona ; 

 but I presume, from its habits, and some descriptive charac- 

 ters, that this araneid belongs to the genus Philodromus of 

 ]M. Walckenaer. 



