THOMISUS. 
71 
fewer and more minute ; the anterior part of the sides has a reddish tint, and a broad, 
dentated, pale, yellowish-brown band, tinged with olive and bordered with black? extends along 
the middle of the upper part; the spinners have a brown hue, and that of the sexual organs, 
which have a strong, longitudinal septum in the middle, is red-brown. This spider varies 
greatly in colour, some individuals being much darker and more distinctly marked than 
others. 
M. Koch remarks that the male is smaller and darker coloured than the female. The 
coxae, femora, genua, and base of the tibiae of the first and second pairs of legs, have a brown- 
black hue, that of the other parts of these limbs being yellowish-white. The colour ,of the 
palpi is brown, with the exception of the digital joint, which has a gray-brown tint, and that 
of the palpal organs is black. 
Specimens of Thomisus audax, supplied by the Rev. Hamlet Clark, were met with near 
Northampton and at Holme Fen, Huntingdonshire, in the autumn of 1853. They were all 
females. 
M. Walckenaer, regarding the Xysticus ( Thomisus ) audax of M. Koch as a mere variety of 
Thomisus cristatus, has included it among the synonyma of that species (‘ Hist. Nat. des 
Insect. Apt.,’ tom. i, p. 521), from which, however, it is undoubtedly distinct. 
Thomisus erraticus. PI. IV, fig. 40. 
Thomisus erraticus, Blackw., Research, in Zool., p. 408. 
— Blackw., Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., second series, vol. vii, 
p. 449. 
Length of the female, T 3 B ths of an inch; length of the cephalo-thorax, T Uh, breadth, T ' a th ; 
breadth of the abdomen, gth; length of a leg of the second pair, Ijths; length of a leg of 
the third pair, jth. 
The cephalo-thorax is large, glossy, compressed before, rounded on the sides, broadly 
truncated in front, and depressed in the anterior region; it is of a pale, reddish-brown colour, 
with a black streak extending from each lateral pair of eyes toward the abdomen; between 
these streaks there is a yellowish-white band, which is bifid before; a fine line of the same 
hue occurs on the lateral margins, and immediately above it, in the posterior region, there is 
an obscure, parallel, blackish band; on the frontal margin there are some strong, black bristles, 
directed forwards. The eyes are disposed on the anterior part of the cephalo-thorax in the 
form of a crescent; the lateral eyes, which are seated on yellowisli-wdiite tubercles, are larger 
than the intermediate ones, those of the anterior row r being the largest of the eight. The 
falces are small, cuneiform, and vertical; the maxillae are enlarged at the base, where the 
palpi are inserted ; the figure of the lip is triangular; the sternum is of an elongated heart- 
shape ; and the legs and palpi are robust, and are furnished with hairs and strong spines. 
These parts are of a pale, reddish-brown colour, the lip being the darkest, particularly in the 
medial line. The first and second pairs of legs, which are much longer and more powerful 
