ARGYRONETA. 
137 
Argyroneta aquatica. PI. VIII, fig. 87. 
Argyroneta aquatica, Latr., Gen. Crust, et Insect., tom. i, p. 94. 
— — Walck., Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt., tom. ii, p. 378, pi. 22, fig. 4. 
— — Sund., Vet. Acad. Handl., 1831, p. 131. 
— — Hahn, Die Arachn., Band ii, p. 33, tab. 49, fig. 118. 
— — Koch, Uebers. des Arachn. Syst., erstes Heft, p. 14. 
— — Koch, Die Arachn., Band viii, p. 60, tab. 269, fig. 636. 
— ■— Blaclcw., Linn. Trans., vol. xix, p. 116. 
— — Blackw., Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., second series, vol. viii, 
p. 97. 
Length of the female, ^ths of an inch; length of the cephalo-thorax, 3 th, breadth, ^ths; 
breadth of the abdomen, jth; length of an anterior leg, §ths; length of a leg of the third 
pair, ^ths. 
The eyes constituting each lateral pair are seated obliquely on a tubercle, but are not 
contiguous. The cephalo-thorax is glossy, compressed before, convex at the anterior part, 
somewhat depressed on the sides, which are marked with furrows converging towards the 
middle, and is slightly hairy; the falces are powerful, conical, vertical, divergent at the 
extremity, and armed wdth three teeth on the anterior and two on the posterior side of the 
space which receives the fang when in a state of repose ; the maxillae are strong, and slightly 
inclined towards the lip, which is triangular and rounded at the apex; the sternum is heart- 
shaped, and densely covered with long hairs; the legs are amply supplied with hairs, those on 
the third and fourth pairs being the longest and most abundant; each tarsus is terminated by 
three claws; the two superior ones are curved and deeply pectinated, and the inferior one is 
inflected near its base; the palpi are slender, and have a curved, pectinated claw at their 
extremity. These parts are of a dark-brown colour, faintly tinged with red; the falces, 
maxillse, lip, and sternum being the darkest. The abdomen is oviform, broader at the 
anterior than at the posterior extremity, convex above, projecting over the base of the cephalo- 
thorax ; it is densely covered with hairs, those on the under part being much the longest, and 
is of an olive-browm colour; four minute, circular depressions of a darker hue, situated on the 
upper part, describe a quadrilateral figure, whose anterior side is the shortest. 
In colour the sexes closely resemble each other, but the male is decidedly larger than the 
female, and its legs are longer, an anterior one measuring an inch. The humeral joint of the 
palpi is curved towards the cephalo-thorax; the radial joint is longer and rather slenderer 
than the cubital; and the digital joint is long, slender, hairy, convex above, at the base, but 
cylindrical and pointed at the extremity; the palpal organs, comprised in a cavity on the 
under side of the basal convexity, are neither highly developed nor very complicated in 
structure; they have a fine spine, curved from the inner towards the outer side, near their 
extremity, a small, prominent process, inflected at its summit, which is directed from their 
18 
