Family THOMISID.dE.
Countries differing widely in geographical position and temperature are inhabited by the
spiders included in this comprehensive family, which vary greatly in size, and have the falces
Articulated vertically or on an inclined plane. By the form and arrangement of the legs,
which present much diversity in their relative proportions, numerous species are enabled to
move forwards, backwards, or in a lateral direction with facility; the tarsi are usually
terminated by two claws, and in various instances are supplied with hair-like papillae, distributed
upon their inferior surface, or forming a small scopula at their extremity. The abdomen
is provided with three pairs of spinners, and two branchial opercula are situated near its
anterior part, on the under side.
In watching for their prey, which they seize by surprise or pursue with agility, the
ThomisideB conceal themselves among herbage and leaves, in flowers, in crevices in the bark of
trees, of rocks, of walls, in crannies of the earth, and under stones. Many species are very
tardy in their motions, but others run with extraordinary celerity.
Genus THOMISUS (Walckenaer).
Eyes disposed on the anterior part of the cephalo-thorax in two transverse rows, forming
'either a crescent or a segment of a circle whose convex side is in front; they do not differ
greatly in size.
Maxillee inclined towards the lip and pointed at the extremity.
L ip either triangular or oval, but obtuse at the apex.
Legs so articulated as to be extended laterally; the first and second pairs are longer and
more robust than the third and fourth pairs.
Thomisus brevipe s. PI. TV, fig. 37.
Thomisus brevipes, Hahn, Die Arachn., Band i, p. 30, tab. 8, fig. 25.
— — Walck., Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt., tom. i, p. 503.
BaumIKIi'''tF R B la c k w ., Linn. Trans., vol. xix, p. 122.
— ■ Blackw., Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., second series, vol. vii,
p. 448.
Xysticus —- Koch, Uebers. des Arachn. Syst., erstes Heft, p. 25.
Length of the female, jth of an inch ; length of the cephalo-thorax, ^th, breadth, ^th;
breadth of the abdomen, £th ; length of a leg of the second pair, &ths; length of a leg of
the third pair, ,th.
The cephalo-thorax is compressed before, rounded on the sides, truncated in front,
abruptly sloped behind, and thinly covered with short, strong hairs; a large, yellowish-brown
band, minutely spotted with reddish-brown, which increases in breadth as it approaches the
eyes, occupies the medial lin e ; the sides are of a brownish-black colour, mottled with
yellowish-brown, and a fine line of the latter hue occurs on the lateral margins. The falces
are short, strong, cuneiform, and slightly inclined towards the sternum, which is heart-shaped.
These parts are of a yellowish-brown colour, mottled with brownish-black. The maxillae and
lip have a brown hue, their bases being the darkest; the former are convex at the base,
arid the figure of the latter is oval. The legs are short, and of a yellowish-brown colour,
mottled with brownish-black; the first and second pairs are longer and more robust than the
third and fourth pairs, the second pair being the longest, and the third pair the shortest;
they are provided with strong hairs and sessile spines; two longitudinal rows of the latter
occur on the under side of the tibiae and metatarsi of the first and second pairs, and the tarsi
are terminated by two curved, pectinated claws. The palpi resemble the legs in colour, and
have a curved claw at their extremity. The eyes describe a crescent on the anterior part of
the cephalo-thorax; those of each lateral pair are larger than the intermediate ones; the
anterior One is the larger of the two, and the posterior one is seated on a small tubercle. The
abdomen is large, depressed, corrugated, particularly on the sides, thinly covered with short,
strong hairs, much broader at the posterior than at the anterior extremity, and projects over
the base of the cephalo-thorax ; it is of a yellowish-brown colour, minutely spotted with red-
brown, and has some transverse streaks of a brownish-black hue in the posterior region of the
upper part, whose continuity is frequently interrupted in the middle ; the sides are irregularly
streaked and spotted with brownish-black, and on the under part there.are three imperfectly
defined, longitudinal bands of a dark, reddish-brown tin t; the sexual organs and the branchial
opercula have a red-brown hue.
Adult females of this species are occasionally met with under stones in fields adjacent to
woods at Oakland, near Llanrwst. The male has not yet been discovered with the:palpal
organs in a state of development; it closely resembles the female in colour when the digital