292 



L. palustris (Linn.) appears to be one of the commonest spe- 

 cies met with in Europe. Prom Italy it is distributed over all cen- 

 tral and northern Europe, over the whole of Scandinavia, even up 

 to Lappland, where it was perhaps found already by Linnjeus him- 

 self), and in the Finnmark. 



The males of L. palustris and L. herbigrada differ from all 

 species known to me in the form of the metatarsi and tarsi of the 

 1 st pair, which are somewhat thickened and clothed at the sides 

 with longer and more projecting hairs, in L. herbigrada perhaps a 

 little less distinctly than in L. palustris; the females of both species 

 are distinguished by a form of the vulva peculiar to themselves: see 

 above under L. albo-limbata Westr., where also the chief differen- 

 ces between L. palustris and L. herbigrada are pointed out. The 

 lateral bands of the cephalothorax in L. palustris are broader than 

 in L. monticola, generally, but not always, geminated by a more 

 or less distinct dark line; the central band is long and narrow, ta- 

 pering equably in front, seldom exhibiting a slight increase of 

 breadth behind the posterior eyes. The male's palpi are not exclu- 

 sively black-haired; at least in my Swedish specimens the patellar 

 joint on the inner side, and the femoral joint at the extremity of 

 the upper side and on the inner side are also somewhat white- 

 haired 2 ). — To L. palustris, L. saltuaria L. Koch (loc. cit., p. 41) 

 is closely akin ; the male of this species is as yet unknown, but the 

 female is easily distinguished from L. palustris 9 by the vulva, 

 which is smaller, lower, rounded behind, with the posterior corners 

 curved forward. 



To the L. monticola-gvovi'p, and perhaps to L. palustris, we may 

 probably refer aeronauta Cont. 3 ) ; and to the same group we may 



1) "Here [in Lulea Lappmark, near Storbacken] was the black biting spider 

 (Ar. palustris) but not the littoralis (A. riparia)." Linn., Lachesis Lapponica, I, 

 p. 258. — It may however be questioned, whether Linnaeus by Ar. palustris 

 here meant the same spider, that he had described in Faun. Suec, Ed. 1, and 

 which he in Syst. Nat., Ed. 10 calls Ar. palustris. 



2) Dr Koch informs me by letter, that the expression "durchaus schwarz be- 

 haart" in his description of the femoral and patellar joints of the palpus in L. 

 tarsalis $ (Arachn.-Fauna Galiz., p. 42) is only a lapsus calami for: r nicht durch- 

 aus weiss behaart" (in contradistinction from L. cursoria $). 



3) Lycosa aeronauta Cont. 1847 : "L. nigra abdomine ovato-oblongo, in medio 

 macula ferrugineo-atra serratim maculata notato, subtus flavo. Pedibus ferrugineo- 

 atro-maculatis. Long. lin. 4." Contarini, Sul volo dei Eagni e sopra una nuo- 

 va specie di Ragno volatore, in Atti d. 1st. Veneto, VI, p. 441 (according to 

 an obliging communication from Count NlNNI, of Venice). 



