424 ON SOME RARE ARACHNIDS 



above the average size of the genus. It may, however, be 

 equalled in this respect by C. ctispidata (Bl.). 



A single female of this spider was found by me amongst 

 dead leaves under a thorn bush on the cop or river bank at 

 Saltney Ferry, not far from the estuary of the Dee in Cheshire. 

 I feel confident that it belongs to an undescribed species, 

 and Mr. Cambridge, to whom I submitted the specimen, 

 agrees with me. I hope next year to obtain more specimens 

 in which both sexes will be included. 



Araneus dromedarius (Walck.). (Plate X., figs. 8, 8a). 



Two females of this interesting species were obtained at 

 Burnham Beeches on May 30th, 1908, by Mr. Wallis Kew 

 and myself. They were captured by sweeping heather grow- 

 ing in an open place. This is the first British record for the 

 species. 



A. dromedarkis (Walck.) is well figured, and its distinctions 

 clearly noted, by Chyzer and Kulczynski* and Bosenbergf. 

 Since, however, there are no notes on the subject in British 

 literature, a few remarks on it may be useful. It is closely 

 related to Aranetis gibbosus (Walck.), a fairly common spider 

 in the South of England, but can be easily distinguished from 

 it by its facies, colour, and the structure of its vulva. In size 

 A. dromedarius is rather larger than British examples of 

 A. gibbosus, the smaller of my two specimens measuring 

 7'5 mm. The difference in shape is connected with the 

 abdominal tubercles. These in gibbosus are directed nearly 

 vertically upwards, their outward direction being distinct 

 enough but slight. In dromedarius the reverse is the case, 

 the tubercles whilst they have a slight upward direction, 

 running almost horizontally outwards. In colouring too the 

 spiders are very different. In A. gibbosus the ground colour is 

 usually greyish green, ranging, however, from almost black to 

 bright green. Its hues thus generally correspond more or less 



* ArauefB Hungarias, Tome I., pp. 118, 125, Tab. V., figs. 3a, 3b. 

 t Die Spinnen Deutschlands, p. 28, Taf. I., fig. 10. 



