399 

 GENUS BALLUS, C. L. Koch. SALTICUS, Bhoko., in part. 



The genus Ballus may be distinguished by its broad, flattened 

 form. The cephalo-thorax and abdomen fit closely one up to the 

 other ; the latter being broad and truncated at its fore extremity. 

 The caput and thorax are of equal size, the ocular area large, 

 occupying tho whole upper surface of the former. The integu- 

 ment of the abdomen, (particularly of the male) is of a somewhat 

 coriaceous nature. The legs are short ; their relative length 

 4.1.2.3., and those of the first pair in the male much the 

 strongest, especially the femoral and tibial joints. Spines are 

 found only on the first and second pairs. 



The spiders of this group are ofton pretty active, though they 

 leap but little. Five species only are found in Europe, of these 

 one only is known, as yet, to be indigonous to Britain, and that 

 one is tolerably abundant in Dorsetshire. 



BALLUS DEPRESSUS. 



Saltious depbesstjs, Walch., Ins. Apt. I, p. 469. 



„ obscurus, Elackw., Spid. Groat Brit, and Irel., p. 53, 

 pi. iii., fig. 28. 



The male measures l-8th of an inch in length, and the female 

 is rather larger. 



The cephalo-thorax is short, broad, and flattened. The lateral 

 edges of the upper surface of the caput are rather sharp, and 

 the sides perpendicular. The colour is a dark, blackish, choco- 

 late red-brown, pretty thickly clothed with short greyish-white 

 hairs. The ocular area is broader than long, and its anterior 

 side is narrower than tho posterior. 



The legs are short, those of the first pair are of inordinate 

 strength, chiefly, however, in the femora, genera, and tibia) • 

 The colour of these joints is yellowish red-brown, the tibise 

 much the darkost, the metatarsi and tarsi pale yellowish. The 

 other logs are pale, brownish-yellow, often tinged with reddish 



