Family DRASSIDÆ.
The DrassicUe have a geographical range extending over a large portion of the earth ;
their falces are articulated either on an inclined plane or vertically, and their abdomen is
terminated by three pairs of spinners, and has two branchial opercula on the under side. In
much the greater number of species the tarsi are provided with two claws, and have numerous
hair-like papillae distributed upon their inferior surface, or forming a scopula at their
extremity; but in a few instances they are furnished with three claws, and are destitute of
hair-like papillae.
The spiders of this family conceal themselves in silken cells, which they construct among
the leaves of plants, in the crevices of rocks and walls, and under stones, and the exfoliating
bark of aged trees; they run actively in pursuit of the insects which constitute their food, or
take them by surprise; but one species, the Argyroneta aquatica of authors, lives habitually
in the water of ditches and pools, pursuing its prey by swimming, and even constructing its
dome-shaped cell and depositing its eggs beneath the surface of that liquid, being enabled to
respire when immersed by the supply of air contained among the hairs which densely cover
the inferior surface of its abdomen.
Genus DRASSUS ( WalcJcenaer).
JEyes arranged in two transverse rows on the anterior part of the cephalo-thorax ; they do
not differ materially in size.
Maxillte long, inclined or curved towards the lip.
Lip long, somewhat oval, and rounded or obtuse at the extremity.
Legs robust, varying in their relative length in different species.
Drassus lucifugus! PI. VI, fig. 62.
Drassus lucifugus, Walck., Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt., tom. i, p. 613.
— — Sund., Vet. Acad. HandlJ 1831, p. 138.
— Koch., Uebers. des Arachn. Syst., erstes Heft, p. 18.
— — Blackw., Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., second series, vol. viii,
p. 39.
— melanogaster, Latr., Gen. Crust, et Insect., tom. i, p. 87.
— — Hahn, Die Arachn., Band ii, p. 11, tab. 41, fig. 102.
Filistata femoralis, Wider, Museum Senckenberg. Band i, p. 206, taf. 14, fig. 5.
Pythonissa lucifuga, Koch, Die Arachn., Band vi, p. 54, tab. 194, figs. 468— 470.
Length of the female, 5 an inch; length of the cephalo-thorax, |th, breadth, 5th;
breadth of the abdomen, gth ; length of a posterior leg, 3 ; length of a leg of the third
pair, ^ths.
The eyes are seated on the anterior part of the cephalo-thorax in two transverse, curved,
diverging rows, the posterior of which is the longer and more curved. The cephalo-thorax is
oval, convex, and sparingly clothed with hairs; the falces are powerful, conical, and vertical ;
the maxillae are greatly enlarged where the palpi are inserted; the lip is somewhat oval and
rounded at the extremity; and the sternum is; heart-shaped ; the legs are robust; the
posterior pair is the longest, then the first, and the third pair is the shortest. These parts are
of a very dark, reddish-brown colour, the thighs and the humeral joint of the palpi being much
the reddest. The abdomen is of an oblong-oviform figure, slightly depressed, rather broader
at the posterior than at the anterior extremity, and projects over the base of the céphalothorax;.
i t is covered with short, glossy-hairs, and is black, with the exception of the
branchial opercula, which are of a yellow colour; on the upper part there are six small
depressions, disposed on, each side of the medial line in two equal, parallel rows.
The male, when adult, is distinguished from the females by its smaller size, and by the
structure of its palpi and palpal organs. The radial joint of the palpi has a large, curved,
pointed apophysis at its-extremity, in front; the digital joint is oval, convex and hairy
externally, concave within, comprising the palpal organs, which are moderately developed,
and not very complicated in structure.
According , to Dr. Leach (Supplement to the fourth, fifth, and sixth editions of thè
Encyclopaedia Britannica/ article “ Annulosa”) the Drassus melanogaster of Latreille (Drassus
lucifugus,Walckenaer) has been found in England, under stones; and bn His authority it is
introduced here as a British spider..
Since the above paragraph was written, an adult female Drassus lucifugus, which was
taken by the Rev. O. P. Cambridge, in 1856, near .Blandford in Dorsetshire, has been received
from Mr. R. H. Meade.
M. Koch remarks (f Die Arachn.,’; Band vi, pp. 55, 56),- that in the nionth of June the
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