120 
DRASSIDiE. 
extends obliquely above the outer margin of the branchial opercula; along the middle of the 
upper part there is a row of small, white spots, the one immediately above the spinners, which 
terminates the series, being the most conspicuous; the spinners are cylindrical and rather 
prominent. Some slight modifications of form and size may be perceived, occasionally, in the 
white lines and spots, so remarkable on this species. 
The male is smaller than the female, but it resembles her in colour. The cubital and 
radial joints of its palpi are short, the latter projecting a small, pointed apophysis from its 
extremity, on the outer side; the digital joint is of an oblong-oval form, somewhat pointed at 
the end; it is convex and hairy externally, concave within, comprising the palpal organs, 
which are highly developed, with a small, prominent, curved spine underneath, and are of a 
red-brown colour. 
In warm sunny weather in spring and summer this small but brilliant spider may be seen 
running on the ground in the woods of Denbighshire, Caernarvonshire, and Berwickshire. 
Like many other species of Araneidea, it is partial to moisture, and drinks water freely. A pair 
confined in a phial having become feeble and greatly emaciated, they were supplied with a 
few drops of water, which they drank with avidity, and speedily resumed their strength and 
former plump appearance. In the month of May, 1833, females, in a state of captivity, con¬ 
structed cocoons of a hemispherical form, measuring about one sixth of an inch in diameter, 
in each of which they deposited nine or ten spherical eggs of a pale-yellow colour, not 
agglutinated together. The cocoons were composed of delicately white silk, of a very fine 
but compact texture; and connected with the upper part of each was a tube of the same 
material, usually occupied by the female. 
Drassus propinquus. PI. VI, fig. 74. 
Drassus propinquus, Blackw., Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., second series, vol. xiii, 
p. 175. 
_ — Blackw., Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., second series, vol. xiv, 
p. 30. 
Length of the male, ±th of an inch; length of the cephalo-thorax, ^th, breadth, ^th; 
breadth of the abdomen, ^th; length of a posterior leg, Jth; length of a leg of the third 
pair, |th. 
The legs are long, slender, provided with hairs and sessile spines, and of a yellowish- 
brown colour, with the exception of the femora of the first and second pairs, which have a 
dark-brown hue, those, of the second pair being the paler; the fourth pair is rather longer 
than the first, which surpasses the second, and the third pair is the shortest; each tarsus is 
terminated by two plain, curved claws, below which there is a small scopula. The palpi are 
robust; the humeral and cubital joints are somewhat darker coloured than the legs, and the 
radial and digital joints have a dark-brown hue ; the humeral joint has a gibbosity near its 
extremity, on the under side, which is provided with short hairs ; and the radial joint projects 
!1 !i IJ" ■ 
