THOMISUS. 
79 
latter projects a long, pointed apophysis from its extremity, on the outer side, and a strong, 
prominent one, terminating in the form of a crescent, on the under side ; the digital joint is 
oval, with a small, acute process on the outer side, against the base of which the end of the 
pointed apophysis connected with the radial joint applies ; it is convex and hairy externally, 
concave within, and comprises the palpal organs; these organs are moderately developed, 
and have a spine curved round their extremity, whose point terminates in a cavity of 
the small, acute process on the outer side of the digital joint; their colour is dark, reddish- 
brown. 
Thomisus luduosus is found among coarse herbage growing in woods and pastures about 
Oakland. In July, the female constructs a lenticular cocoon of white silk, of a compact texture, 
measuring |th of an inch in diameter, and deposits in it between eighty and ninety spherical 
eggs, of a pale, yellowish-white colour, not agglutinated together. The cocoon, to which the 
female manifests her attachment by remaining constantly with it, is often placed between 
two leaves, connected by a slight tissue of silk, forming a kind of sac. 
This spider appears to be nearly allied to the Thomisus fucatus of M. Walckenaer (Hist. 
Nat. des Insect. Apt., tom. i, p. 505). 
Thomasus bifasciatus. PL IV, fig. 46. 
Thomisus bifasciatus , Blackw., Linn. Trans., vol. xix, p. 122. 
— —• Blackw., Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., second series, vol. vii, 
p. 450. 
Xysticus — Koch, Die Arachn., Band iv, p. 59, tab. 125, figs. 286—288. 
— — Koch, Uebers. des Arachn. Syst., erstes Heft, p. 26. 
♦ 
Length of the female, f B ths of an inch ; length of the cephalo-thorax, Uhs, breadth, 1th ; 
breadth of the abdomen, jth; length of a leg of the second pair, |jths; length of a leg of 
the third pair, 5 7 ? ths. 
The cephalo-thorax is large, glossy, slightly compressed before, rounded on the sides, 
broadly truncated in front, and depressed in the anterior and posterior regions; it is of a 
pale, red-hrown colour, with a longitudinal, dark-brown band immediately above each lateral 
margin, and another of the same hue extending backwards from each lateral pair of eyes; on 
the anterior part of the space comprised between the latter bands, there are two pale-yellow 
lines, which meet in an angle directed towards the abdomen, and a transverse line of the 
same colour passes between the two rows of eyes. The falces are short, cuneiform, and 
vertical; the maxillae are enlarged where the palpi are inserted, and convex near the base; 
and the lip is rather long and triangular. These parts are of a pale, red-brown colour, 
except the base of the lip, which is blackish. The sternum is oblong heart-shaped, 
thinly covered with strong black hairs, and of a pale, red-hrown colour, with dark-brown 
spots, the largest of which, situated at its posterior extremity, is of an elongated form. 
The first and second pairs of legs are much longer and more powerful than the third and 
