



APTERA. 

ARANEA MACUL ATA. 
S22 0O-F TED SPIDER. 
GENERIC CHARACTER. 
Eyes eight. Mouth armed with two hooks or crotchets. Palpi two, confift of feveral joints, headed by 
) S I J 
the genitalia of the males in that fex. Anus contains teats for fpinning. 
SPECIFIC CHARACTER. 
Thorax covered with a fattin like pile, of a filvery colour. Abdomen cylindrical. Legs long and black. 
EK he RRR elie 6 3s 
Aranea Macurarta: thorace holofericeo argenteo, abdomine cylindrico, pedibus longiffimis atris. 
Fab. Ent. Syft. t, 2. p. 425. fp. 66. 

This remarkable creature is peculiar to fome parts of the Chinefe empire. It is not the largeft of the 
genus, known; yet it is of fufficient magnitude to excite terror and difguft. ‘To an European, who has 
feen only the indigenous fpiders of his own country, a {pecies five or fix inches in length, and nearly the 
fame in breadth, mutt appear a frightful creature: Aranea Maculata fometimes exceeds that fize; but it 
has not the forbidding afpe& of moft infeéts of the fame genus. The legs are unufually long, and the 
body flender. In its general appearance, it refembles fome kinds of the PAa/angie that are known in Eng- 
land by the vulgar name Harwe/f men, being generally feen about that time of the year. 
S 3 o d 3 
It has been obierved, that nature oftentimes adorns the moft deformed and loathfome of her creatures 
in the richeft difplay of colours; .and this is efpecially noticed in many forts of fnakes, toads, lizards, &c. 
Spiders feem alfo of this defcription: to a form the moft hideous we frequently find united a brilliance of 
colours, and elegance of marking, that is fcarcely excelled by any of the butterfly tribe, —the moft beautiful 
of all lepidopterous infeéts. Our prefent fubject is a ftriking proof of the latter part of this obfervation. 
The three figures in our plate of Aranea Maculata exhibit a front and a profile view of the infect, together 
with the front of the head at the third figure. The head is furnifhed with two very ftrong black mandi- 
bles, each terminated in an extremely acute point. The fore part of the thorax, which is wholly of a fine 
filky appearance, and the colour of filver, bending over the mandibles in the form of an arch, or circular 
head-piece, give it the refemblance of a black head with a crown of filver on the brow. ‘This appearance 
is heightened in no fmall degree by three rugged prominences, one in the centre, and another on each fide, 
on the upper part; and by the minute black eyes, which, like thofe of moft f{piders, fparkle with the lufire 







