resemble the falces in colour, but are paler; and the lip has a dark-brown hue, with red-
brown margins. The sternum is heart-shaped, of a dark-brown colour, with a longitudinal,
yellowish-brown band in the middle, and is covered with yellowish-white hairs. The legs are
long and robust, and are provided with short hairs and spines; their colour is yellowish-
brown, with the exception of the tarsi, which have a dark-brown h u e ; the fourth pair is the
longest, then the second, and the third pair is the shortest; each tarsus is terminated by
three claws; the two superior'ones are curved and pectinated, and the inferior one is inflected
near its base, which is supplied with a few very minute teeth. The palpi are strong, of a
yellowish-brown colour, and have a curved, pectinated claw at their extremity. The abdomen
is of an oblong oviform figure, projecting a little over the base of the cephalo-thorax, and
tapering to the spinners; it is thickly covered with short hairs of a yellowish-brown colour
above, and has a series of obscure, angular lines of a darker hue, whose vertices are directed
forwards, extending along the middle, and a large angular line of a dull, yellowish-white tint
at the anterior extremity; on each side of the upper part there is a longitudinal, sinuous,
yellowish-white band, below which the sides have a brownish hue; the under part has a pale,
yellowish-white tint, with .a few lighter coloured spots interspersed; and the colour of the
branchial opercula is brown, their inner margin being tinged with pale-yellow.
The male bears a strong resemblance to the female; but it is rather smaller and more
distinctly marked,,, the lighter shades of colour being much paler, and the darker,ones more
intense. The cubital and radial joints of the palpi are short; the latter projects a large
apophysis from its extremity, on the outer side, which tapers to a curved point, and has a
tuft of hairs on its outer part, near the base; the digital joint is oval,, hairy, very convex
externally, concave within, comprising the palpal organs, which are highly developed,
prominent, complicated in structure, with a strong, curved process on the outer side, whose
termination constitutes their extremity, and are of a reddish-brown colour.
Both sexes have compound, sessile hairs on various parts of their limbs and body. They
present much diversity of tint in their several stages of growth; and the female, after having
deposited her eggs, becomes of a dark-gray colour.
Well-wooded districts in England and Wales are the favorite haunts .of this handsome
spider, which, even in the adult state, varies greatly in colour. ’ The . Ocyale murjina of
M. Koch, described by that arachnologist as a distinct species, is merely the female of
Dolomedes mirabilis after she has exercised her parental functions. In'June the female
constructs, a globular cocoon of dull, yellow-coloured silk, of a compact texture and rough
,exterior surface, measuring three tenths of an inch in diameter, in whicli she deposits between
220 and 240 eggs of a spherical form and dull-yellow colour, not agglutinated together.
This cocoon, for which she manifests a strong feeling of attachment, is carried underneath
the sternum, and retained in that situation by means of the falces and palpi, additional
support being usually supplied by silken, lines connecting it with the spinners; this latter
circumstance, it will be perceived, furnishes a new link in the chain of analogies which
connect the genus Dolomedes with that of Lycosa. When the young are about to quit the
cocoon, the female spins a large dome-shaped web among grass or low bushes, under which
she retires with her treasure, and her progeny, on being extricated from their silken envelope,
cluster together on lines spun by themselves beneath the dome, where they remain till they
are capable of providing for their own sustenance.
Dolomedes ornatus. PI. II, fig. 19.
Dolomedes ornatus, Blackw., Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., third series, vol. iii, p. 91.
Length of the female, ^th of an inch ; length of the cephalo-thorax, ^th, breadth, ^th ;
breadth of the abdomen, gkth ; length of a posterior leg, Jth ; length of a leg of the third
pair, gth.
The eyes are seated on black spots on the sides and in front of the anterior part of the
cephalo-thorax ; the four anterior ones are minute, and form a straight, transverse row, the
lateral ones, each of which is placed on a minute tubercle, being rather the smallest ; the
other four are large, and describe a trapezoid whose posterior side is much the longest ; the
posterior eyes of the trapezoid are seated on tubercles, and the anterior ones are the largest
of the eight. The cephalo-thorax is convex, glossy, compressed before, rounded on the sides,
and has a slight indentation in the medial line ; a broad, brownish-red band, which tapers to
its posterior extremity, extends along the middle, and on each side of it there is a longitudinal
brown band, which decreases in breadth to the lateral eye of the posterior row ; the sides
have a pale, dull-yellow hue, that of the lateral margins is black, and a blackish spot occurs
on the frontal margin, below each lateral eye of the anterior row. The falces are conical,
vertical, and armed with a few teeth on the inner surface ; the maxillæ are short, somewhat
enlarged and rounded at the extremity, and slightly inclined towards the lip. These organs
have a pale, dull yellowish hue : a blackish streak extends along the former, and appears like a
continuation of the spot on the frontal margin of the cephalo-thorax. The lip is nearly
quadrate, and of a yellowish-brown colour, the sides being much the darkest. The sternum
is heart-shaped, and of a pale, dull-yellow hue, with broad, brownish-black lateral margins.
The legs are moderately long, provided with hairs and fine spines, and are of a pale-yellowish
hue, with minute black spots ; the fourth pair is rather the longest, the first and second pairs
are equal indength, and the third pair is the shortest ; each tarsus is terminated by three
claws ; the two superior ones are curved and pectinated, and the inferior one is inflected near
its base. The palpi resemble the legs in colour, and have a small, curved, pectinated claw at
their extremity. The abdomen is oviform, thinly clothed with hairs, convex above, and
projects over the base of the cephalo-thorax ; the upper part is of a yellowish-brown colour ;
at its anterior part there are four short, longitudinal streaks, the exterior ones of which increase
in breadth to their posterior extremity ; to these succeed three large spots placed transversely,
the intermediate one being in advance of the other two ; and between the latter and
the spinners there is a series of short, transverse bars, somewhat enlarged at their extremities,
which decrease in length to the cocc)rx ; these streaks, spots, and bars have a brown hue ;
the sides and under part are of a pale-yellowish colour ; the former are slightly tinged with
brown, and a longitudinal, brownish-black band occurs on each side of the medial line of the
latter ; these bands converge .to the spinners, where they meet.
The Rev. 0 . P. Cambridge took two young females of this species, at Lyndhurst, in the
New Forest, Hampshire, in September, 1858.