201 



from his T). gnaphosus or O. noctnma (Linn.). In Faune Fran?., 

 Arachn., p. lfio, Walckenaer himself appears to suspect that D. 

 (jiiapliosus and D. nocturnus might belong to one and the same 

 species; he says that the female, of the former differs only from this 

 latter in the colour of the band of the abdomen nearest the cepha- 

 lothorax being yellow, not white as in D. nocturnus, and in that the 

 spots on the back of the abdomen are in D. gnaphosus four in num- 

 ber, not two only. That the male of "JJ. gnaphosus" has 4 white 

 spots on the back of the abdomen, he also remarks. "Ceci pourrait 

 faire soupconner que cette espece (D. gnaphosus) n'est qu'une variety 

 de la precedente (D. nocturnus); mais comme j'ai trouve deux ou 

 trois fois le nocturne avec les deux taches seulement, j'ai du distin- 

 guer comme espece les individus qui en avaient quatre. Le natura- 

 liste qui aura occasion d'en examiner un plus grand nombre, et qui 

 observera leurs moeurs, pourra seul de'cider si cette distinction est 

 exacte." (Walck., loc. cit.). 



See also the next following species, M. variana Westb. 



(Pag. 359.) 5. M. variana [= Gnaphosa variana (C. Koch) 1839.] 



Syn.: f 1B32. Drassus nocturnus Sund., Sv. Spindl. Beskr. , in Vet.-Akad. 



Handl. f. 1831, p. 136: Var. c (ad part.). 

 1839. Pythonissa variana C. Koch, Die Arachn., VI, p. 65, Taf. 



CXCVII, fig. 478. 

 1851. Drassus varianus Westr., Forteckn. etc., p. 48. 



Walckenaer (H. N. d. Ins. Apt., II, p. 485) takes up, erro- 

 neously no doubt, C. Koch's Pyth. variana as a synonym to his 

 Urassus nocturnus, on which see preceding species. The colour of G. 

 variana is very different from that of D. nocturnus Walck.: in Faune 

 Franc., Arachn., p. 157, the cephalothorax is stated to be in this 

 latter species "d'un noir rougeatre", with "une bande longitudinale 

 de poils gris depuis la tete jusque a la pointe poste'rieure" etc. Conf. 

 the description in H. N. d. Ins. Apt., I, p. 615. 



stated to have a black cephalothorax, covered with coarse hairs, among which 

 are some of a white colour; its legs are reddish, with exception only of the 

 thighs, which are black; the abdomen is black, with two white spots near the 

 base united into an angle, two others, linear and placed transversely, one on 

 each side, in the middle, and two at the extremity, smaller than the others and 

 almost round. It lives in tubes of silk, which it fabricates on the leaves of 

 plants. It was found ''sulle foglie dell' Inula viscosa, nella Solfatara" (Naples). — 

 For this species I propose the name Gnaphosa phyllobia. 



26 



