272 



the synonyms of these spiders have heen treated by some writers, 

 e. g. Walckenaer. Under these circumstances it is evident, that 

 many species, especially those of the older authors, cannot with ab- 

 solute certainty, but only with more or less probability, be recognized. 



It is nowhere of more special importance than in the de- 

 scription of Lycosoidse, to give an accurate account of the organs 

 of copulation both in the female and male, for in this group it not 

 unfrequently happens, that these organs offer the only sure charac- 

 teristics for distinguishing nearly allied species. The female's vulva 

 is often more or less covered with hair, which must be removed by 

 gentle friction, before an idea can be obtained of the appearance of 

 that organ. It sometimes makes a great difference whether the ani- 

 mal be examined lying in fluid or whether it be dry, and it is 

 probably in most cases necessary, when the animal is kept in spirits , 

 to take it out of the same, and, when it is tolerably dry, rub off the 

 hair and then immediately examine the vulva. Almost all the no- 

 tices of the form of the sexual organs given in this work, are ob- 

 tained from specimens thus dried for the occasion, and never from 

 the animal as it lies in the spirit. 



(Pag. 469.) 1. L. septentrionalis l=Lycosa septentrionalis Westr. 



1861]. 



This species appears to me, in consideration of the low pars 

 thoracica of the cephalotborax, and the short and broad pars cepha- 

 lica, with its somewhat slanting, not perpendicular, sides, to belong 

 rather to C. Koch's Leimonia than to his Pardosa, to which Westring 

 would refer it. — The cephalothorax in Q is something ( y s millim.) 

 shorter than patella + tibia of the 4 th pair; its central band is short, 

 narrowing backwards, and reaches forward only to the pars cephalica, 

 and is geminated by the blackish central furrow. The side-bands are 

 narrow and very conspicuous, their upper margin somewhat uneven. 

 The vulva consists of a large elevated area, broader and truncated be- 

 hind : its posterior angles are rounded off, and it has a slight depression 

 in the middle of the posterior margin. This area has throughout its 

 whole length a large oblong depression bounded by sharp edges, some- 

 what narrow in front, then rapidly widening, and afterwards narrowing 

 again, with rounded sides and terminating in a point: its figure is some- 

 thing like that of a short-necked flask. This depression is divided into 

 two parts by a long, narrow septum gradually increasing in breadth 



