255 



1861. THOMISUS brevipes Blackw., Spiil. of Gr. Brit., I, p. G7, PI. IV, 



fig. 37. 



1867. Xysticus praticola Our,., Aran. d. Prov. Preuss., p. 117 (saltern 



ad imrt.). 



I see no reason to doubt, that the species described by C. 

 Koch and Ohlekt under the name of X. praticola, or Thorn, bre- 

 vipes Westr., is really the same as TL brevipes Hahn, Die Arachn., 

 loc. cit. Hahn's figure in Monogr. Aran., which is unaccompanied 

 by any description, is on the other hand rather dissimilar, and this 

 has led Walckenaer to refer it to Thorn, bufo Duf. 4 ), which is a 

 much larger species, and probably only met with in the south of 

 Europe. Prach 2 ) indeed describes "A', brevipes" and "AT. praticola" as 

 two separate species, but both descriptions seem equally well to 

 suit Westring's Thom. brevipes, of which I not only possess speci- 

 mens from Sweden and Finland, but also from widely separated 

 parts of Germany: Prach does not mention any dissimilarities be- 

 tween his two species, to which I could attribute any weight. — 

 Thom. brevipes Blackw. (loc. cit.) and Thom. brevipes Walck. (H. N. 

 d. Ins. Apt. , I , p. 503) may, it seems to me, be with tolerable certainty 

 referred to X. brevipes (Hahn.), (Westr.). 



The male of Thomisus incertus Blackw. 3 ), which in his whole 

 habitus, the position of his eyes and the spine-armature of his 

 anterior tibiae perfectly agrees with Xysticus brevipes, is easily di- 

 stinguished from it by the thighs of the first pair having three 

 spines, and those of the succeeding pairs tivo; the tibial joint of 

 the palpus is on the outer side produced forwards into a broad 

 disk, which at the extremity above is continued as a long, fine, 

 down-turned spine curved in the form of an S; at the apex of the 

 under side this joint has a slender process, directed forward and 

 curved somewhat upward. X brevipes has on the thighs of the 1 st 

 pair only two spines, and on the succeeding pair or pairs only one. 

 The thighs of the 4 th pair are without spines. The tibial joint of the 

 palpus is, on the exterior side, greatly dilated and thickened, and 



1) L. Dufour, Descr. de cinq Arachn. nouv., in Ann. gen. d. Sciences Phys., 

 V, p. 206, PI. LXXVI, fig. 4. 



2) Monogr. der Thomisiden v. Prag, p. 617 (21), 620 (24). — I have in ge- 

 neral not thought it necessary to increase the already sufficiently great number 

 of synonyms by citations from this very indifferent "gekronte Preisschrift". 



3) Descr. of some newly disc. spec, etc., in Ann. and Mag. of Nat. Hist., 

 XYIII, p. 297; Spid. of Gr. Brit., I, p. 86, PI. IV, fig. 51. 



