212 



(rag. 385 ) 3. D. uncinata [= Dictyna uncinata Thor. 1856]. 



Syn.: 1856. Dictyna uncinata Thor., Eec. crit. Aran., p. 82. 



1862. Ergatis arborea Cambr., Descr. of ten new spec, of Brit. Spid., 



in Zoologist 1862, p. 7960. 

 1869. Dictyna uncinata Mekge, Preuss. Spinn. , III, p. 246, PI. 47, 



tab. 144. 



The male of this species is easily distinguished by his palpi, 

 as the descriptions above referred to, show. The female's cephalo- 

 thorax is opaque and chagrined , with only three white lines on the 

 head: the black spot on the back of the abdomen in front, is short, 

 almost square, at least not double as long as it is broad, some- 

 times slightly narrower behind than before. — A specimen of Ergatis 

 arborea Cambr. from England has been sent me by Mr Cambridge. 



The web that D. uncinata constructs , is very unlike that of the 

 preceding species, and exhibits a remarkable agreement with that of 

 Amaurobius fenestralis or atrox. On old rough wooden fences one 

 often sees (e. g. here in Upsala and Soderkoping) dirty, roundish 

 spots, which on closer examination are found to consist of small 

 closely woven spider's webs full of dust, with a little opening in or 

 near the centre. This opening is the mouth of a very short tube, 

 at the bottom of which the proprietress of the web, D. uncinata, 

 lies in wait for her prey. This spider then weaves a net which 

 seems very similar to that, with which Theridion civicum Lucas ') 

 — also a Dictyna — disfigures the house-walls of Paris. At the 

 same time that the form of the webs of these two species gives one 

 more ground for referring Dictyna to the Amaurobiine , that genus 

 offers a striking example of how that different habits of life and a 

 different form of web may be quite compatible with very near re- 

 lationship between species, and shows that the affinity and systema- 

 tic arrangement of spiders is first and principally determined by the 

 form of the animal itself, and not by its habits and instincts. 



(Pag. 386.) 4. D. latens [= Dictyna latens (Fabr.) 1775J. 



Syn.: 1775. Aranea latens Fabr., Syst. Ent. , p. 432 (ad partem). 



1836. Dictyna „ C. Koch, Die Arachn., LU, p. 29, Taf. LXXXIII, 



fig. 186. 



l) Descr. et fig. d'une nouv. esp. d'Aran. appartenant au genre Theiid., 

 in Ann. de la Soc. Ent. de Fiance, 2 Ser., VLU, p. 179, PI. VI, N:o V. 



