12 



MICARIA PULICARIA. 



Clttdiona puxioaria, Sund., Sv. Spindl., Beskr. in Vet-Akad, 

 Handl., 1231, p. 140. 



Dhassus nitens, Blachc, Spid; Great Brit, and Irol., p. 119, 

 pi. vi, fig. 73. 



Tho female of this brilliant little spider measures rather less 

 than two lines in length, the male being smaller and of a more 

 slender form. It is by no means rare under stones and among 

 the dead sticks, decayed leaves, stoms, and mosses of old hedge- 

 rows at Bloxworth. Besides being adorned with numerous 

 iridescent scaly hairs reflecting golden, red, green, and purple 

 hues from a black ground colour, tho cephalo-thorax has some lines 

 on the sides, formed by whito hairs, and converging to tho thoracic 

 indentation, while tho abdomen has also various similar white lines 

 and spots upon it. These linos on tho abdomen are sometimes 

 obsolete, excepting one spot just above the spinners ; this variety 

 forms the Drassus micans, Bl. (I.e. p. 118, pi. vi., fig. 72), of 

 which the type specimen was found under a stone in Portland. 

 On tho whole this is perhaps the most beautiful of all our native 

 spiders ; it is adult, usually in the spring and early summer-time, 

 when the males may often be seen rapidly crossing the dry roads 

 and footpaths in bright sunshine. The rolative length of the 

 legs is 4.1.2.3. 



MICARIA SCINTIIXANS. 



Deassus scintillans, Camlr., Trans. Linn. Soc, vol. xxvii, 

 p. 412. pi. 54, v. 12a. 

 This is a larger spider than the last, and far less brilliant 

 in its hues. The male measures a little over two lines 

 in length, and the female often exceeds three lines. The 

 abdomen is narrow, often strongly constricted across the middle • 

 and the general appearance of the spider is that of a 

 large, washed-out specimen of the last species, to which indeed 

 it is nearly allied. The only known locality for it is in Port- 

 land, where I discovered it on the Verne Slopes in 1860. Subse. 



