106 
DRASSIDiE. 
female constructs one or two lenticular cocoons of compact, white silk, measuring about five 
sixths of an inch in diameter; they are usually placed on the earth, or are attached to a stone, 
and contain numerous small, yellow eggs. 
Among the new genera proposed by M. Koch, for the reception of certain groups into 
which he has separated the Drassi, there are several, including British species, which do not 
appear to possess characters sufficiently marked to warrant their adoption. 
Drassus ater. PI. VI, fig. 63. 
Drassus ater, Latr., Gen. Crust, et Insect., tom. i, p. 87. 
— — Walck., Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt., tom. i, p. 618. 
— — Hahn, Die Arachn., Band ii, p. 54, tab. 61, fig. 142. 
— — Blackw., Linn. Trans., vol. xix, p. 114. 
— — Blackw., Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., second series, vol. viii, p. 39. 
Melanophora subterranea, Koch, Uebers. des Arachn. Syst., erstes Heft, p. 17. 
— — Koch, Die Arachn., Band vi, p. 85, tab. 201, figs. 491, 492. 
— atra, Koch, Die Arachn., Band vi, p. 88, tab. 201, fig. 493. 
Filistata —— Wider, Museum Senckenberg. Band i, p. 202, taf. 14, fig. 2. 
Length of the female, T 3 a ths of an inch; length of the cephalo-thorax, jth, breadth, T ' T th ; 
breadth of the abdomen, ^th; length of a posterior leg, ^ths; length of a leg of the third 
pair, Rh. 
The colour of this spider is brownish-black, with the exception of the tarsi, the sides of 
the thighs, the extremities of the maxillae, the sexual organs, and the fangs of the falces, 
which have an obscure, reddish-brown tint, and the branchial opercula, which are of a dull- 
orange hue. The eyes are disposed in two short, transverse, parallel, nearly straight rows on 
the anterior part of the cephalo-thorax; the intermediate eyes of the anterior row, which is 
near the frontal margin, are the smallest of the eight, and are seated on a slight protuberance. 
The cephalo-thorax is large, oval, convex, glossy, somewhat pointed before, and thinly 
covered with hairs. The falces are powerful, conical, rather prominent, and are armed with 
a few small teeth on the inner surface. The maxillae are strong, gibbous at the base, with an 
oblique, transverse furrow near the extremity, and are curved towards the lip, which is large 
and oval. The sternum is oval, glossy, and sparingly supplied with hairs. The legs are 
robust and hairy; the fourth pair is the longest, then the first, and the third pair is the 
shortest; each tarsus is terminated by two curved, pectinated claws; and the palpi have a 
similar claw at their extremity. The abdomen is of an oblong-oviform figure, thickly covered 
with hairs, and projects a little over the base of the cephalo-thorax. The spinners are some- 
w r hat cylindrical and rather prominent, the two intermediate ones, which are small, being 
united at the base. 
The male is rather smaller than the female, but it resembles her in colour. The cubital 
