57 



wood. It is gonerally distributed in England ; but in the county 

 of Dorset I have found it more abundantly under large pieces of 

 detached rock near Pennsylvania Castle, Portland, than in any 

 other locality. Like some other spiders it is apt to come out from 

 its lurking place in those states of atmosphere which betoken the 

 approach of rain. It is thus frequently to be seen crawling on 

 the walls and seats of dilapidated churches, and has (I am told) 

 received the name, in the neighbourhood of Plymouth, of " Old 

 Churchman;" and it is looked upon there with a sort of 

 superstitious respect, not unmixed, however, with ill-concealed, 

 though unreasonable, disgust. 



The whole spider has a black and rather sepulchral aspect; when 

 looked at more nearly the cephalo-thorax is of a dusky-brown, 

 tinged with dull yellowish, the caput being much the darkest. 

 The legs and palpi are similarly coloured with, rather indistinct, 

 sooty-black annulations; and the abdomen is dull brownish-black, 

 with the greater part of the fore-half of the upper side dusky 

 yeUowish-white.divided longitudinally by two somewhat dentated, 

 but often rather indefinite, curved bands, leaving a broad, central, 

 longitudinal, pale band, pointed behind, and followed to the 

 spinners by a series of dull yellowish-white, angular bars, of 

 which the vertices are often broken and incomplete, and some- 

 times altogether wanting, or else represented only by small 

 indistinct spots. This .last variety constitutes the Cimfio mordax 

 of Blackwall. 



The palpi and palpal organs of the male are an exaggeration, 

 in their form and structure, of those of A. similis and A. atrox; 

 but a very striking and distinctive oharactor of these organs is a 

 large lobe, the most protuberant part of which is white on the 

 outer side, and in a dim light has a shining, and almost semi- 

 luminous, appearance. 



The adult female is a bold and powerful spider, and will bite 

 the fingers fiercely when laid hold of. Sport, of a kind, has boen 

 furnished before now by ferreting out this spider from its tubular 

 retreat; making use of the uncanny-looking black beetle, 

 popularly known as the "Devil's coach-horse "— Oq/pm ohm— 

 for a ferret. 



