Flowers grdwing in fields and gardens are the favorite resorts of Thomisus citreus, which
occurs in various parts of England and Wales. The great dissimilarity in size and colour
between the sexes has occasioned them to be described as different species.
1 T h o m i s u s a b b r e v ia t e s . PI. IV, fig. 54,
Thomisus abbreviatus, Walck., Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt., tom. i, p. 516.
— diadema, Hahn, Die Arachn., Band i, p. 49, tab. 13, fig. 37.
-7-7 sf=j Koch, TJebers. des Arachn. Syst., erstes Heft, p. 2.4.
— — Koch, Die Arachn., Band iv, p. 51, tab. 123, figs; 281, 282.
Length of the female, fths of an inch; length of the cephalo-thorax, ,th, breadth, 536th s ;
breadth of the abdomen, ?th; length of an anterior leg, ^ th s; length of a leg of the third
pair, ~th.
The cephalo-thorax is convex, somewhat glossy, rounded in front and on the sides,
abruptly sloped at the base, and has a prominent, conical tubercle on each side, in the region
of the eyes, and a small process projecting from the middle of the frontal margin; it is of
a brown colour, tinged with yellow towards the sides, and has a broad band extending from
its anterior extremity along the’middle, more than two thirds of its length, and lateral
margins of a pale-yellow, or yellowish-white hue. The eyes are disposed on the anterior
part of the cephalo-thorax in two transverse, curved rows, forming a crescent whose convexity
is directed forwards; the eyes of the anterior row are rather larger than those of the
posterior row, and the lateral eyes of both rows are seated on the conical tubercles, below
their apex. The falces are short, strong, cuneiform, and vertical; the maxillae are convex at
the base, enlarged at the extremity, which is truncated on the outer side, and inclined
towards the lip, which has an oblong-oval figure; and the sternum is heart-shaped. These
parts have a pale-yellow or yellowish-white hue; the lip is the darkest, and the falces have a
brown spot at their base, in front. The legs are very unequal in length, the first and second
pairs being much longer and more robust than the third and fourth pairs ; they are provided
with short hairs and spines, two parallel rows of the latter occurring on the inferior surface
of the metatarsi and the extremity of the tibiae of the first and second pairs, and are of a
yellow colour, tinged with brown on the upper surface of the femur, genual joint, and tibia;
the first pair is slightly longer than the second, the third pair is the shortest, and each tarsus
is terminated by two curved, pectinated claws. The palpi, which are short, resemble the
legs in colour, and have a curved, pectinated claw at their extremity. The abdomen is.
large, broad, abruptly curved downwards in the posterior region, and has a conical protuberance
on the upper part of each side, near the middle of its length; it is thinly clothed
with short hairs, and of a yellow colour, the under part, which is the palest, having a row of
minute, indented spots extending along each side of the medial line, and in the anterior
region of the upper part there, are five indented spots, disposed in the form of an acute angle,
whose vertex is directed forwards; the sexual organs are small, and of a. red-brown hue, with
a longitudinal, brownish-yellow septum in the middle.
This species varies considerably in colour, particularly when immature. In numerous
instances the abdomen has a yellowish-white h u e ; a small, angular or semicircular pink spot
occurs at the anterior extremity of the upper part, to which succeed several oblique streaks
and a transverse line connecting the two conical protuberances, of the same colour, and on
the abruptly curved posterior part there are transverse pink lines, which extend along the
sides.
The immature male, which has to undergo its final ecdysis, closely resembles the female,
but is smaller, and the digital joint of its palpi is tumid.
A young individual of this species was taken in Dorsetshire, by the Rev. 0 . P. Cambridge,
in the autumn of 1857, and in 1858 several immature specimens of both sexes were
captured by him at Lyndhurst, in. the New Forest.
Genus PHILODROMUS (Walckenaer).
Eyes disposed on the anterior part of the cephalo-thorax in two transverse, curved rows,
forming a crescent whose convex side is in front ; they do not differ greatly in size.
Màxïlloe inclined towards the lip and convergent at their extremities.
L ip either triangular or somewhat oval.
Legs so articulated as to be extended laterally ; they are long, and vary in their relative
length in different species.
PHILODROMUS DISPAR. P I. V, fig. 55.
Philodromus dispar, Walck., Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt., tom. i, p. 553.
— : .Blackw., Linn. Trans., vol. xix, p. 123.
— '.**.}«< Blackw., Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., second series, vol. vii,
p. 451.
v 't-*-' fallax, Sund*., Vet. Acad. Handl., 1832, p. 226.
limbatus, Koch, Die Arachn., Band xii, p. 85, tab. 416, figs. 1017,
1018.
Length of the female, ^ths of an in ch ; length of the cephalo-thorax, ^th, breadth, ^ th ;
breadth of the abdomen, jth ; length of a leg of the second pair, |r d ; length of a leg of the
third pair, Jfths.
* The legs are long, and are provided with hairs and sessile spines; they are of a pale,
yellowish-brown colour, faintly tinged with green, and are marked with numerous, minute,
black spots; the second pair is the longest, then the first, and the fourth pair is rather longer