174 T. THORELL. DE8CRIPTION8 OF SEVERAL EUROPEAN AND NORTH-AFRIOAN SPIDERS. 



a me visis totus niger est. sed sub-testaceus, regione ante rimam genitalem tuiitum et 

 vitta angusta transversa pone eam, cum nigrore illius regionis nnita, nigri^. {Lyc. {Arc- 

 tosa) vultuosa C. KoCH cujus singulum exempluin junius ex Sarepta vidi, T. Siiigo- 

 riensi valde affinis quidein est, sed verisimiliter propria species). — Si quidetn ex verbis 

 MoTSCHOULSKYi (noH facile explicandisl): "subter pectus pedibiis gtiiicalis vufescentibus' 

 (= subter pectus nigrum, pedibus cum geniciilis rufescentibus?) inrelligi licet, patellas 

 "Lyc. infernalis" subter non nigras esse, sed "rufescentes" (pallidas), certe non ad T. Siri- 

 yoriensem, sed ad araneatn a me supra descriptam referenda est species illa ^). 



•) Die Aracliu., V, p 102, Tab CLXXI, tigg. 407, 408. 



MoTSCUOULSKY gives loc. cit. the following account of his Lyc. infernalis: 



"Cest cptte Lycose que les Kalmoiiks nomraent Tchim, la L-onsiderant comiiie iiiie des plus veni- 

 raeuses. Elle apparait eii abondance apres un couple d aiiiiées, mais se montie alors dans une telle quautitti 

 que tous les paturages en sont coraplétenient infeotées. Le bétail Técrasant nécessaireraeiit sous ses pieds, 

 est de suite attaqué par les araignées dout la couvée a été endommagée, et leur morsure causant des dou- 

 leurs aÉfreuses, mettent en råge ce bétail, qui parcourt les Steppes dans toutes les directions. s exposant 

 toujours plus aux attaques des Lycoses, qui tinissent par le faire succoraber. Les boeufs et les vaehes 

 tombent de tatigue et expireut en peu d'lieures des douleurs causees par le veniii de Taraiiinée. Les peupics 

 noniades de la Russie méridiouale pretendent qu'en 1838 et 1839 ils ont perdu de cette luaniere en tres 

 peu (le tems jusquii 70000 bétes å cornes. Plus tard la Lycose apparut de nouveau, mai? le dégåt quelle 

 causa, quoique beaucoup inoindre qu'en 1838, fut assez sensible aux Kahnouks. Des C|u'une pareiile calamité 

 se fait seutir, les peuples nomades décanipent de suite de Teudroit ou cette araigiiée apparait et se dispersent 

 dans les Steppes; ce qu'ils ont fait aussi a Tarrivée du Choléra." (I?) 



It appears however to me improbable that either Tr. infernalis or Tr. ,'Singoriensis rs the true Tcinvi 

 of the Kalraucks; I believe that this name beloni^s to Lathi-odectus 13-guttatns, Var. lugubris, on which 

 see above p. 66. According to Pallas (Reise durch verschiedene Provinz. d. Russ. Reichs, J. p. 157), 

 Tr. Singorietisis is considered by the iuhabitants of the neighbourhood of Saraara (on the Wolga), wlieic 

 that spider is particularly comraon, as not at all venomous: he states that he himself was bitten by the 

 animal, and that a Cossack in his service was also once bitten so deeply as to fetch blood, without any 

 serious consequences. Belke mentions under the name of Lycosa Ucrainensis a spider, which is comraon 

 at Kamienietz in Podolia, and sometiraes is as much as an inch and a half loiig; of this j^pider, which is 

 doubless uothing else than Tr. Singoriensis, he says: "sa morsure cause une enflure inrtauimatoire dans la 

 partie blessée, sans autres suites fächeuses" (Belke, Esquisse de Thist. nat. de Kamienietz-Podolski, in 

 BuU. de la Soc. Imp. d. Nat. de Moscou. XXXII (1859), p. 90). Kalmucks and Kirgeese however, accor- 

 ding to Pallas (Naturgesch. merkw. Thiere, 1, 9, p. 50), entertain the grecitest tertor for all animal.'*, 

 however inuocuous, which in their eyes bear any resemblance to the claugerous Gaieodes araneoides; they 

 are therefore greatly afraid of e. gr. the Mole cricket, as also of Tr. Singoriensis, which ihey confound 

 with the Galeodes. Lepechin also (Journal etc, Haases German Translatiou, I, p. 528) mentions the 

 Kalmucks' panic fear of the "Tarantulas" (Conf. Walck., H. N. d. Ins. Apt., I. p. 297, where Sipoirka i.s 

 erroneously given as the name of the town in the neighbourhood of which Lepechin made his observations 

 of this animal: Lepechin observed it on the steppe between the town of Dmitrewsk and the salt-lake 

 Jelton, and "sipo«ka ' is the name not of a place, but of a sort of musical instrument). But if then 7'r. 

 Si>igo7'ie7isis, like e. g. Tar. Narboiieiisis and Tar. fasciiventris or Apulice (Vid. Panceri, Esperienze sui 

 veleno della Lyc. Tarantula, in Rendiconto deirAcaderaia Pontaniana, 1868) be certainly innocuous, it is highly 

 improbable that Tr. infernalis, which is so closely allied to Tr. Singoriensis, and smaller, should be venomous. 

 This spider, like those above-mentioned, no doubt belongs to the dass of calumniated animals: and it cer- 

 tainly does but little to justify the ugly name given it by Motschoi lski, which however may be retained 

 as indicative of its subteiranean abodes — it lives in deep, cylindrical holes in the ground (according to 

 a communication from Mr C. O. Herman, who has sent nit- specimens of this species from Doroszlo in 

 Hungary). — That the natives in the localities where Tr. Singoriensis and Tr. infernalis are met with, 

 caanot distinguish between these two species, may be taken for granted. Neither Lepechin nor Pall.\s 

 mentions Tr. infernalis, and it is possible that they eonfounded it with Tr. Singor-iensis, concemiug which, 

 as we have seen, they had a good deal to say; but the descriptions of the "Tarantula", "Aranea l^arau- 

 tula", given by these two authors, only suit Tr. Singoriensis, not Tr. infernalis. — Motschollkv says loc. 

 cit. p. 291 : "Pallas parle dans ses voyages d'une araignee veninieuse uommée Tcliim, mais il n'en a pås 



