148 



Syn.: ? 1763. Aranea Pluchii Scop., Entora. Carniol., p. 404. 



1783. „ opilionoides Schranck, Enum. Ins. Austr., p. 530. 

 ?1834. Pholcus phalangioides [phalangoides] Hahk, Die Arachn., II, 



p. 34, Taf. L, fig. 119 (ad part.). 

 1838. „ OPILIONOIDES C. Koch, ibid., IV, p. 95, Tab. CXXXV, 



fig. 311. 



Scopoli says (loc. cit.) of his Aranea Pluchii: "Maxillae apice 

 nigrse; abdomen macnlis nigris". From these words Simon has con- 

 cluded , that Ar. Pluchii is identical with Ar. rivulata Porsk. ') or 

 Pholcus rivulatus Sav. et Aud. 2 ). How the expression "abdomen ma- 

 cnlis nigris" can furnish any ground for this opinion, or be recon- 

 ciled with the very good description extracted by Simon from Savigny 

 or Walckenaer of the abdomen in Ph. rivulatus, in which description 

 nothing is said about black spots, I cannot imagine: the pattern 

 is in fact formed by whitish points on a darker bottom, whereas 

 both in Ph. phalangioides and in Ph. opilionoides C. Koch the ab- 

 domen is of a pale colour with blackish spots or streaks. And as 

 for "maxilla? apice nigra?", this phrase proves nothing, for Scopoli 

 by the word "maxillae", in the case of spiders, means the mandibles, 

 as may be seen by his description of Phalangium opilio 3 ) immedi- 

 ately following that of Ar. Pluchii. The maxilla of Ph. opilionoides 

 C. Koch are blackish with a pale external border, and might accor- 

 dingly with about as much or as little reason be said to be apice 

 nigral as the maxillae of Ph. rivulatus, which according to Simon are 

 white with black borders (in my specimens they are entirely black or 

 brown). Simon states, that Ph. rivulatus is as common as Ph phalan- 

 gioides (Ph. opilionoides Sim.) in Carinthia, where Scopoli had cap- 

 tured his Aran. Pluchii; but he does not mention the grounds on 

 which he bases this assumption. I for my part, until the contrary 

 be proved, assume as most probable, that the PAo/cifs-species which 

 is the commonest, perhaps the only one met with, in the rest of south- 

 eastern Germany 4 ), is so also in Carinthia — and that species is 

 Ph. opilionoides (Schranck), C. Koch {non Sim.). But as I have not 



1) Forskal, Descript. Anim., p. 86; Icones rer. natur., p. 7, Tab. XXIV, fig. F. 



2) Descr. de l'Egypte (Ed. 2), XXII, p. 358; Atlas: Arachn., PI. IILfig. 12. 



3) r Maxillae ut in Araneis, sed binis dentibus terminates instar cJiela~. 

 (Scop., loc. cit.). 



4) The limits of what may be called Germany are at the present moment 

 non very clearly defined, and I therefore ought perhaps to inform may readers, that 

 I here include under that name all the countries which belonged to the late Ger- 

 man Confederation , together with Prussia proper : I therefore reckon as belonging 



