533 



a long, slender, filiform, black, marginal, tortuous spine. 

 Abdomen excessively convex in the female (less so in the male), 

 at the middle of the upper sido ; it is of a more or less deep 

 yellow-brown colour, mottlod with yellowish, whitish, and red- 

 dish brown, and clothed with white pubescence. 



Found (once only) in the lake district of Cumberland in the 

 summer of 1863. 



This is a most remarkable spider, and one of its peculiarities 

 is that it spins a geometric, orbicular snare, from which the largost 

 portion of the circle is uniformly omitted ; forming, in fact, a 

 sector of a circlo, equal to about its sixth part, and consisting of 

 several lines radiating from a centre, and irregularly crossed by 

 shorter ones. A curious habit is related of a closely allied North 

 American species, Ilyptiotes excmata, Hentz. This spider sits on 

 the short line into which the rest radiate ; the line is rather slack, 

 and the spider holds up the slack portions pretty tightly by means 

 of the tarsal claws of the first pair of legs, and then the moment 

 a fly gets into the snare the spider suddenly lets go the slack 

 with a jerk, which helps considerably to entangle the prey. If 

 unsuccessful, it again gathers up the slack and awaits another 

 chance. 



It is possible that our only European specios, JTi/pttotes 

 paradoxus, may havo a similar habit, though it has not been yet 

 observed sufficiently to enable this to be ascertained. There 

 seems to be no reason why this spider should not occur more 

 frequently than it has yot been observed, in England, especially 

 in the southern parts, since it is found (though not commonly) 

 in the neighbourhood of Paris and in many other parts of 

 France. 



