Genus ATYPUS (Latreillè).
Eyes closely grouped on a protuberance at the anterior part of the cephalo-thorax ; three
on each side describe a triangle whose vertex is directed forwards, and the other two, which
are the largest, are placed transversely between the triangles.
Maanllæ long, divergent, dilated at the base, where the palpi are inserted, and pointed at
the extremity.
Lip small and somewhat oval.
Leys moderately long; the fourth pair is the longest, a little exceeding the first in
longitudinal extent, and the third pair is the shortest.
Atypus Sulzeri. PI. I, fig. 1.
Atypus Sulzeri, Latr., Gen. Crust, et Insect., tom. i, p. 85, tab. 5, fig. 2.
— — Hahn, Die Arachn., Band i, p. 117, tab. 31, fig. 88.
■ E S — Blackw., Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., second series, vol. vii, p. 256.
— — Koch,-Die Arachn., Band xvi, p. 72, tab. 562, figs. 1547, 1548.
Oletera atypa, Walck., Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt., tom. i, p. 243, pi. i, fig. 5. '
— picea, Koch, Uebersicht des Arachn. Syst. erstes Heft, p. 35.
Length of the female, |ths o f an inch ; length of the cephalo-thorax, ±th, breadth, gth ;
breadth of the abdomen, 1th; length of a posterior leg, ^ths ; length of a leg of the third
pair, Ts6ths.
This spider has a large cephalo-thorax, of a remarkable form ; it increases gradually in
breadth from the posterior to the anterior part, is truncated in front, and somewhat convex in
thé region of the eyes. The falces are powerful, very prominent, greatly curved on the upper
part; armed with some strong teeth on the under side, and have three small, obtuse processes
near the base of the fang. The lip is situated below a protuberance near the basé of the
maxillæ, which are fringed with red hairs on the inner surface. The figure of the sternum is
semicircular. The legs and palpi are provided with hairs and spines, and the two superior
tarsal claws are pectinated.. These parts are glossy, and of a reddish-brown colour. The
abdomen is oviform, the posterior part being rather the broadest ; it is sparingly clothed with
hairs, glossy, and of a dark-brown colour, faintly tinged with red ; the two superior spinners
are long, prominent, and have the spinning-tubes distributed on the inferior surface of the
terminal joint.
The male is smaller than the female ; it is much darker coloured also, and has bn the
upper part of the abdomen an oval, glabrous, coriaceous space, which extends about half-way
towards the spinners. The radial joint of the palpi is larger than the cubital, and the digital
joint is of an elongated oval form, terminating in a point; this last joint is convex and hairy
externally, concave within, comprising the palpal organs, which are globose at the base, with
a fine, curved spine at their extremity, and are of a red colour.
Dr. Leach has taken specimens of Aiypus Sulzeri in the vicinity of London and Exeter.
(See the Supplement to the fourth, fifth, and sixth editions of the ‘ Encyclopaedia Britannica,’
article “Annulosa”) It excavates, in humid situations, a subterraneous gallery, which is at first
horizontal, but inclines downwards towards its termination. In this gallery it spins a tube of
white silk, o f a compact texture, about half an inch in diameter, and the female deposits
between thirty and forty eggs in a cocoon of white silk attached to its extremity. Part of
the tube hangs at the outside of the aperture to protect the entrance.
Since the instances of the capture of Atypus Sulzeri, recorded by Dr. Leach, several
females have been procured by the Rev. Hamlet Clark from the neighbourhood of Carlisle;
Mr. R. H. Meade also has received specimens of it from Mr. Newman, which were found in
lanes near Hastings in the autumn of 1855; and the Rev. 0 . P. Cambridge took an adult
male early in January, 1857, from a rabbit-earth in Dorsetshire.