THOMISUS. 
83 
This spider was discovered among grass in a pasture at Oakland, in September 1845; and 
in April 1849 an adult female was received from Mr. James Hardy, of Penmanshiel, 
Berwickshire, who found it under a stone in Penmanshiel Wood. Like Thomisus cristatus, 
Thomisus bifasciatus, and some other species belonging to the genus Thomisus, it has the power 
of changing the colour of the anterior intermediate pair of eyes from dark, red-brown to pale, 
golden-yellow by a very perceptible internal motion. No such motion appears to occur in the 
other eyes, which are always black. 
Thomisus versutus. PI. IV, fig. 49. 
Thomisus versutus, Blackw., Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., second series, vol. xi, 
p. 15. 
— — Blackw., Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., second series, vol. xi, 
p. 114. 
Length of the female, jth of an inch; length of the cephalo-thorax, -th, breadth, ^th ; 
breadth of the abdomen, |th; length of an anterior leg, ^ths; length of a leg of the third 
pair, 5 th. 
The legs are provided with short hairs and strong spines, two parallel rows of the latter 
being conspicuous on the inferior surface of the tibiae and metatarsi of the first and second 
pairs, which are much longer and more robust than the third and fourth pairs; the first pair 
is rather longer than the second, and the third pair is the shortest; each tarsus is terminated 
by two curved, black claws, dentated near the base; the palpi, which are short, are supplied 
with hairs and spines, and have a small, curved, black claw at their extremity ; the cephalo- 
thorax is convex, compressed before, and rounded on the sides and in front; it slopes 
abruptly behind, is without an indentation in the medial line, and on its frontal margin there 
is a row of strong bristles directed forwards; the falces are short, strong, subconical, vertical, 
and have some bristles in front, towards the inner side; the maxillae are slender, convex near 
the base, pointed at the' extremity, and inclined towards the lip, which is triangular ; the 
sternum is heart-shaped. These parts are of a pale, yellowish-brown colour; the cephalo- 
thorax has a brownish-black band extending backwards from each lateral pair of eyes, and 
narrow, yellowish-white margins; and the lip has an oblong, dark-brown spot near its base. 
The eyes are disposed on the anterior part of the cephalo-thorax in two curved rows, forming 
a crescent whose convex side is in front; the eyes of each lateral pair, which are seated on a 
tubercle, are much larger than the intermediate ones, those of the anterior row being the 
largest of the eight. The abdomen is depressed, corrugated, particularly on the sides, much 
broader at the posterior than at the anterior extremity, the latter, which appears as if cut in a 
straight line across, projecting over the base of the cephalo-thorax; very short hairs are 
sparingly distributed over its surface, and it is of a yellowish-gray colour, freckled with brown, 
a broad, dentated band, which is bordered laterally with red-brown, extending along the 
