?5 



On account of tho number of its eyes Scytodes was placod by 

 Mr. Blackwall in closo proximity to Dysdcra and other six-eyed 

 spiders. The better opinion seems to be, that it is (as here 

 placed) near tho P/tolcidcs and Thcridiides, that its true position 

 is to be assigned. 



SCYTODES TIIORACICA. 



Scytodes thoiucica, Latr., Blacho., Spid. Great Brit, and Irol., 

 p. 380, id. xxix, fig. 272. 



Length of the fomalo nearly 4 lines. 



The cephalo-thorax is yellow, boldly, but rather irregularly, 

 marked with black-brown. Tho legs are also yellow ; in one 

 example (an adult) the genua, both extremities of the tibiae, and 

 the hinder extremity of the metatarsi, were deep black-brown ; 

 in an immature example the femora and tibice were thinly spotted, 

 or irregularly annulated, with a similar hue. The palpi are Uko 

 the legs in colour and markings. The fakes, sternum, maxilla', 

 and labium are also yellow, the falces marked in front with a 

 blackish spot or patch. The abdomen is somewhat globular, of a 

 paler and dullor hue than the rest, marked with black spots and 

 patches, forming two longitudinal, central, parallel lines, with 

 some others slightly oblique, but nearly vertical, on the sides. 

 Spinners short, and compact. 



The palpal organs of the male of this spider (as well as of all 

 ' other known males of this group) aro exceedingly similar in form 

 to those of Segcstria, and the various genera of tho Thcraplwsidex, 

 consisting of a pear-shaped corneous bulb, attached to tho digital 

 joint of tho palpus by its larger end. 



Until of late years, the claim of this spider to a placo in tho 

 British fauna rested on tho authority of Dr. Leach, who states 

 (Encyclop. Britt. Art. Annulosa, Suppl. to the -1th, 5th and Cth 

 Editions) that two females had been found near Dover. In 1801 

 I found an adult female in an outhouse at Bloxworth Eectory ; 

 and, more recently, an immature one at St. Alban'sHall, Oxford. 

 It must, howovor, be regarded as one of our rarest spiders, and, 

 in these northern latitudes, not likely to be often met with. 



