Length of the female, ^ths of an inch ; length of the cephalo-thorax, ^th, breadth, T*?th ;
breadth of the abdomen, ^th; length of an anterior leg, ,th ; length of a leg of the third
pair, jth.
The legs are long, slender, and of a yellowish-brown colour, with broad, dark-brown
annuli; the first pair is rather the longest, then the fourth, and the third pair is much the
shortest; the tarsi are destitute of scopulse, and are terminated by three claws; the two
superior ones are curved and deeply pectinated, and the inferior one, which is minute, is
inflected near its base. The palpi have a small curved claw at their extremity, and are of a
uniform light red-brown hue. The cephalo-thorax is oval, convex, glossy, with a very slight
indentation in the medial line, and is of a brownish-black colour. The falces are strong,
conical, slightly prominent, and armed with a few small teeth on the inner surface; the
maxillae are long, very convex at the base, enlarged where the palpi are inserted, and
somewhat pointed at the extremity; the lip is truncated at the apex; and the sternum is oval,
with small eminences on the sides, opposite to the legs. These parts have a very dark-
brown hue, the falces being the darkest, and the maxillae and lip the palest. The two
anterior eyes are the largest of the six. The abdomen is of an elongated oviform figure,
inclining to cylindrical, and projects very little over the base of the cephalo-thorax; it is
thinly clothed with hairs, and the colour of the upper part is dark-brown, or pale-brown
mottled with numerous dark-brown spots; the under part has a yellowish-brown hue, a
narrow brown band extending along the middle; and the colour of the branchial and tracheal
opercula is pale-yellow. Some individuals have the under part of the abdomen tinged with
pink; its extremities in others are of a yellowish-white h u e ; and the young in general are
lighter coloured than adults.
The sexes are similar in colour, but the abdomen is slenderer and more nearly cylindrical,
the falces are more prominent, and the maxillse are rather more pointed at the extremity in
the male than in the female. The cubital joint of the palpi is shorter than the radial, and the
digital joint is small, oval, and protuberant underneath, near its articulation with the radial
joint, from which protuberance the palpal organs project upwards; they are pyriform, glossy,
with two small, curved, black spines near their extremity, which is abruptly contracted, and
are of a yellowish-brown colour.
Distinguished arachnologists have mistaken Dysdera Homberyii, first briefly described by
Scopoli (‘Entomologia Carniolica/ p. 403, No. 1119), for the young of Dysdera erythrina,
from which it differs in colour and organization. A conviction of its specific distinctness
having been induced by a careful examination of specimens captured in 1832, in the same
year a description of it was given in the ‘ London and Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine/
under the appellation of Dysdera Latreillii ; but the trivial name, of course, is superseded by
that originally conferred upon it by Scopoli. The tarsi of this species, it will be perceived,
unlike those of its congeners, have three claws at their extremity, and are destitute of scopulse.
Crevices in rocks and walls, and the under side of lichens growing on trees, are the favorite
resorts of Dysdera Homberyii, which is plentiful in the wooded districts of Denbighshire, Caernarvonshire,
Lancashire and Yorkshire; and in the spring of 1849 an immature female was
received from Mr. J. Hardy, who took it in Berwickshire, and has since found adult specimens
in the same county. The sexes pair in May, and in the succeeding month the female envelopes
herself in an oval cell of white silk of a slight texture, on whose exterior surface are disposed
minute pebbles, small pieces of indurated soil and other heterogeneous materials; in this cell
she deposits between twenty and thirty spherical eggs of a pale-pink colour, which are not
cemented together.
Mr. R. Templeton remarks that this species is very common at Cranmore, in Ireland.
Genus—SEGESTRIA, Latr.
Dyes disposed on the anterior part of the cephalo-thorax; four placed rather near together
form a transverse row, and behind each lateral eye another is situated.
Maxilla long, straight, dilated at the base where the palpi are inserted, and rounded at
the extremity on the outer side.
Lip of an oblong quadrilateral figure, slightly hollowed at the extremity.
Leys moderately long and robust; the first pair is the longest, then the second, the third
pair being the shortest in females.
Segestria perfida. PI. XXVIII, fig. 269.
Segestria perfida, Walck., Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt., tom. i, p. 267.
__ — Blackw.. Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., second series, vol. x,
p. 251.
Hahn, Die Arachn., Band i, p. 5, tab. 1, fig. 1.
__ Koch, Uebers. des Arachn. Syst., erstes Heft, p. 20.
— , Koch, Die Arachn., Band v, p. 72, tab. 164, figs. 38o, 386.
— cellaria, Latr., Gen. Crust, et Insect., tom. i, p. 88.
Length of the female, fths of an inch; length of the cephalo-thorax, ^rd, breadth, ^ths ;
breadth of the abdomen, ,th ; length of an anterior leg, |th s ; length of a leg of the third
pair, |ths.
The intermediate eyes of the anterior row are very near together, and those of each
lateral pair are seated on a small tubercle. The cephalo-thorax is large, convex, and marked
with furrows on the sides, converging towards a very slight indentation in the medial line ; it
is of a reddish-brown colour, the region of the eyes and the lateral margins being much the
darkest, and is clothed with hoary hairs. The falces are powerful, conical, prominent, provided
with long hairs in front, armed with teeth on the inner surface, and of a bright, glossy-green
colour. The maxillse are gibbous at the base; the lip is hollowed at the extremity; and the
sternum is of an elongated oval form; with eminences on the sides, opposite to the legs.
These parts have a red-brown hue, the bases of the maxillse and lip being the darkest. The