507 



(Pag. 467.) Eucharium civile. 



DiCtyna ciiica (Luc.) 1849. 



Sijn.: 1849. Theuidion civicum Luc, Descr. et fig. (Tune nouv. espece d'Aran. 



appart. au genie Therid., in Ann. de la Soc. 

 Ent. de France, 2 Ser., VIII, p. 181, PI. 6, No. V. 



This little spider, which has acquired a sort of notoriety by its 

 living on the walls of several houses and monumental buildiugs of 

 Paris in such numbers as to disfigure their appearance with its 

 ■webs'), belongs to the genus DicUjna Sund., as I have already 

 above (pag. 212) assumed, and which assumption I find confirmed 

 by the examination of a c? and ? from Paris, for which I am in- 

 debted to the kindness of Mr Simon. This species is even by its co- 

 lour distinguished without difficulty from e. g. D. arundinacea , 

 which it in size most nearly resembles. The cephalothorax is, in 

 the cf, dark brown; in ¥, greyish brown with a black lateral border. 

 The head has five white hair-lines; the legs in the female are grey- 

 ish brown, with dark rings, two on each of the thighs, tibiae and 

 metatarsi, and one on each of the patellae; the tarsi are blackish at 

 the apex. In the male the legs are darker and less distinctly an- 

 nulated. The middle of the back of the abdomen is occupied through- 

 out its entire length by a rather narrow, dark, at the edges, espe- 

 cially posteriorly, sinuated area, the anterior part of which is 

 occupied by an elongated blackish patch somewhat broader behind 

 and extending at least to the middle of the abdomen: this patch is 

 followed by a few pairs of blackish spots, so that the centre area 

 is paler behind, and becomes narrower towards the anus. On each 

 side of this centre field the back of the abdomen is greyish white, 

 bestrewed with small dark points; the sides are darker. 



In the male the patellar joint of the palpus is as long as it is 

 broad, scarcely broader than the femoral joint at the apex; the ti- 

 bial joint is almost as long as, and slightly narrower than the pre- 

 ceding joint; at the base, near the outer side, it is armed with a 

 short , stout , pointed , black tooth , which is considerably shorter than 

 the semi-diameter of the joint. The low, yellowish brown bulbus is 

 enclosed for the greater part of its length by a pretty fine, long, 

 black spine situated close to the lamina and curved round the bulbus. 



1) Conf. Dumeril, Obswv. sur le Titer, civicum, in Ann. de la Soc. Ent. de 

 France, 2 Ser., VIII, p. 5—11; Simon, H. N. d. Araignees, p. 173. 



