SALTICUS. 
53 
* 
dark, red-brown spot in front; both are supplied with coarse, white hairs on the upper side, those 
on the radial joint being the longer; the digital joint is of a reddish-brown hue, and has some 
long, coarse, white haiis on the upper part, towards the inner side ; it is of an oval form, 
convex and hairy externally, concave within, comprising the palpal organs, which are highly 
developed and very prominent, extending to the articulation of the cubital with the radial 
joint - they have a slender, blackish spine, curved into a circular form, at their extremity, and 
are of a pale-flesh colour. In a state of repose the palpi mask the falces, and the coarse, 
white hairs with which they are provided form an obtuse, curvilinear angle, whose vertex is 
directed downwards. The abdomen is slenderer and less distinctly marked than that of the 
female, and its colour is darker. 
Specimens of this spider, which is partial to well-wooded districts, have been procured 
in Denbighshire, Caernarvonshire, Yorkshire, and Lancashire. In June the female constructs 
an oval cell of white silk, of a slight texture, usually attached to the inferior surface of stones 
or withered leaves, in which she deposits about sixteen spherical eggs, of a pale-yellow colour, 
connected by fine lines of silk. 
SALTICUS OBSCtJRUS. PI. Ill, fig. 28. 
Salticus obscurus, Lilackw., Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., second series, vol. vi, 
p. 336. 
Blackw., Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., second series, vol, vii, 
p. 402. 
Length of the male, |th of an inch; length of the cephalo-thorax, T ’ s th, breadth, -th ; 
breadth of the abdomen, ^th • length of a posterior leg, jth; length of a leg of the third 
pair, T ‘ 5 th. 
The legs are short, robust, and of a reddish-brown colour, .the metatarsi and tarsi being 
the palest; the fourth pair is rather the longest, then the first, and the third pair is the 
shortest; the femora, genua, and tibia? of the anterior pair of legs are remarkably powerful, 
the first being very convex on the upper part, and the last densely covered with hairs on 
their inferior surface; each tarsus is terminated by two curved claws. The palpi are short, 
and similar in colour to the legs. The radial joint is smaller than the cubital, and projects a 
pointed apophysis from its extremity, on the outer side ; the digital joint is large, oval, convex, 
and hairy externally, concave within, comprising the palpal organs, which are highly deve¬ 
loped, very prominent at the base, provided with a black spine curved into a circular form at 
their extremity, on the outer side, and are of a red-brown colour. The cephalo-thorax is large, 
sparingly clothed with white hairs, nearly quadrilateral, and projects a little beyond the base 
of the falces, w'hich are small, conical, and vertical; the sternum is oval. These parts, with 
the maxillae and lip, are of a dark, reddish-brow-n hue. The abdomen is oviform, convex above, 
projecting over the base of the cephalo-thorax ; it is of a very dark, reddish-brown colour, a 
few white hairs being distributed over its upper surface, and on each side of the medial line. 
i 
