SPHASUS. 
43 
Hecaerge spinimana occurs in woods in various parts of Great Britain ; it is active in its 
movements, and being provided with scopulse, can run with facility on dry objects having 
polished perpendicular surfaces. In June the female constructs a lenticular cocoon of white 
silk of a slight texture, measuring about three tenths of an inch in diameter, which she usually 
attaches to the under side of a stone, depositing in it between twenty and thirty spherical eggs 
of a yellowish-white colour, not agglutinated together. 
Scotch specimens of this spider have been received from Mr. J. Hardy. 
In its general organization this species approximates most nearly to the spiders belonging 
to the genus Dolomedes, among which it is still retained by M. Walckenaer; the propriety of 
constituting a new genus for its reception is rendered sufficiently manifest, however, by 
differences in the disposition of its eyes, in the structure of its mouth and legs, and also in its 
habits and economy. These differences present distinct characters, admitted to be generic by 
Professdt Sundevall and M. Koch; indeed the generic name Lycana , proposed by the former 
eminent arachnologist, would have taken precedence of all others had it not been previously 
employed by Fabricius. 
Genus SPHASUS {Walckenaer). 
Eyes unequal in size, disposed on the anterior part of the cephalo-thorax; the four 
posterior ones form a transverse row, which is greatly curved, having its convexity directed 
backwards ; and the other four describe a trapezoid whose shortest side is before; the posterior 
eyes of the trapezoid are the largest, and the anterior ones much the smallest of the 
eight. 
Maxilla long, straight, and somewhat enlarged and rounded at the extremity. 
Lip moderately long and dilated towards its apex. 
Legs long and slender, varying in their relative length in different species. 
Sphasus lineatus. PL Ill, fig. 22. 
Sphasus lineatus, Walck., Hist. Nat. des. Insect. Apt., tom. i, p. 375. 
— — Walck., Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt., tom. ii, p. 460. 
— — Koch, Die Arachn., Band iii, p. 12, tab. 77, figs. 171, 172. 
Oxyopes — Latr., Gen. Crust, et Insect., tom. i, p. 117, tab. 5, fig. 5. 
Length of the female, ,th of an inch; length of the cephalo-thorax, |th, breadth, T ' 5 th ; 
breadth of the abdomen, T ’ 5 th; length of an anterior leg, T 5 s ths; length of a leg of the third 
pair, |rd. 
