AGELENA. 
161 
Agelena celans. PI. X, fig. 103. 
Agelena celans, Blackw., Linn. Trans., vol. xviii, p. 624. 
— — Blackw., Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., second series, vol. viii, 
p. 332, 
Argus — Walck., Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt., tom. iv, p. 504. 
Length of the female, gth of an inch; length of the cephalo-thorax, ith, breadth, T ' B th; 
breadth of the abdomen, T ' ? th; length of a posterior leg, ^ths ; length of a leg of the third 
pair, Jfths. 
The intermediate eyes of the anterior row are much the smallest, and those constituting 
each lateral pair are the largest of the eight. The cephalo-thorax is slightly compressed 
before, and the sides are rounded, depressed, and marked with furrows which converge 
towards a narrow indentation in the medial line; it is hairy, and of a very dark-brown 
colour, with yellowish-brown lateral margins, and a hand of the .same hue extending along 
the middle. The falces are strong, conical, vertical, and armed with a few teeth on the inner 
surface ; the maxillae are short, convex at the base, round at the extremity, and slightly 
inclined towards the lip, which is quadrate, being rather broader at the base than at the 
extremity. These organs are of a brown colour, tinged with red, the base of the lip being 
much the darkest. The sternum is short, heart-shaped, and has a yellowish-brown tint. 
The legs and palpi are of a brown hue, tinged with red, the thighs being the palest; the 
tibiae and metatarsi of the first and second pairs of legs have a series of large, sessile spines 
on each side of their inferior surface; each tarsus is terminated by two curved, pectinated 
claws ; and the palpi have a small, curved claw at their extremity. The abdomen is oviform, 
hairy, rather broader at the posterior than at the anterior extremity, convex above, projecting 
over the base of the cephalo-thorax ; the upper part is of a very dark-brown hue, with 
reddish-brown and scattered hairs of a yellowish-brown colour intermixed ; an obscure, 
dentated, reddish-brown band extends along the middle ; and the under part is of a yellowish- 
brown hue, marked with three faint, longitudinal lines of a darker shade ; the spinners are 
short; and the branchial opercula have a pale-yellow tint. 
Both sexes are similar in colour, but the male is the smaller. The cubital and radial 
joints of its palpi are short, the latter having a straight, pointed apophysis at its extremity, 
on the outer side; the digital joint is oval, convex and hairy externally, concave within, 
comprising the palpal organs; they are highly developed, rather complicated in structure, 
vascular, with a black, corneous process at the extremity, which is broad, depressed, curved 
near the base, and abruptly recurved about the middle ; their colour is red-brown. 
This scarce species may occasionally be met with running upon the ground, or concealed 
under stones, in woods about Llanrwst. The palpal organs of the male are developed in 
August. Though intimately allied to the Agelence, yet M. Walckenaer has included this 
spider in the genus Argus. 
21 
