470 



91850. Scytodes CAMERATUS Hbntz, Descr. and fig. of the Aran, of the 



U. S. , in Bost. Journ. of Nat. Hist., VI, p. 

 35, PI. IV, fig. 17. 

 1854. „ THORACICUS Thor., Om hanen af Scyt. thor., in Ofvers. af 



Vet.-Akad. Forhandl., XI (1854), p. 197 (=$). 



Blackwall, like so many other writers, states, that "the male of 

 <S. thoracica has not yet been discovered" ; but this is far from being 

 the case. Very young males are as early as 1820 mentioned by Dufotjr '); 

 in 1853 I found a fully developed male specimen at Florence, and 

 described it the following year loc. cit. 2 ). In the year 1861 I cap- 

 tured another full-grown male at Nice, which I sent to Mr H. Lu- 

 cas. The species of Scytodes met with in the Isle of Keunion, which 

 Vinson 3 ) has described 1863 under the name of S. thoracica, is an 

 entirely different species, as is evident from, among other circum- 

 stances, the description of the male, in which the thighs of the l:st 

 pair are said to be armed with two rows of strong, short spines: 

 this is by no means the case in S. thoracica S, the legs of which 

 are clothed only with fine hairs, as is the case also in the female. 

 Simon ") has supposed this Vinson's spider to be a variety of S. tho- 

 racica, and calls it S. thoracica Var. major; it may therefore be de- 

 nominated Scytodes major Sra. 



S. thoracica is met with not only in the countries surrounding 

 the Mediterranean, but also in the south-eastern parts of Africa, 

 according to Blackwall 5 ). If, as I suspect, 5. eameratus Hentz be 

 not specifically different from S. thoracica, this species is also found 

 in North-America (Alabama). 



1) Descr. de cinq Arachn. nouv. , in Ann. gen. des Sc. phys. , V, p. 203. 



2) From this description I cite the following lines: "Palpi thoracis 

 fere longitudine, vix attenuati; pars femoralis crassitudine femoris anterioris et 

 hac crassitudine triplo longior ; pars patellaris parva , brevis , suh-pyramidalis ; 

 pars tibialis crassitudine duplo longior, cylindrica; pars tarsalis basi globosa, in 

 processum satis longum, acuminatum, fusco-pilosum producta : huic parti sublus 

 affixus est bulbus globosus vel sub-pyriformis , processu satis longo, versus apieetn 

 paullo dilatato, ibique abrupte angustato et in setam longissimam (1 millim. lon- 

 giorern) exeunte". 



3) Aran. d. lies de la Eeun. , Maur. et Madag. , p. 6, PI. I , figg. a, b. 



4) H. N. d. Araignees, p. 46. 



5) A list of Spid. captured in the south-east region of Equat. Africa, in 

 Ann. and Mag. of Nat. Hist., 3 Ser., XV1H, p. 463 (18). 



