The statement of M. Walckenaer, that tiiis spider has the fourth pair of legs longer
than the second (‘ Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt.,’ tom. iv, p. 501), requires correction, as the
relative length of its organs of locomotion does not differ from that of its congeners, Ergatis
benigna and Ergatis pattens.
Genus VELEDA {Blackmail).
Eyes small, nearly equal in size, disposed on the anterior part of the cephalo-thorax
in two transverse, curved rows, whose convexity is directed forwards ; the anterior row,
which is the less curved, .is situated near the frontal margin, and the intermediate eyes, which
are seated on a tubercle, are the largest, and the lateral ones rather the smallest of the eight ;
the lateral eyes of both rows are widely apart, and are placed on minute tubercles, and the
intermediate ones form a trapezoid, whose anterior side is the shortest.
M axilla moderately long, straight, powerful, greatly enlarged, and rounded at the
extremity, which is prominent on the inner surface.
Lip short, triangular, and rounded at the apex.
Legs very unequal in length ; the first pair is much the longest, then the fourth, and
the third pair is the shortest ; each metatarsus of the posterior pair is provided with a cala-
mistrum situated on its superior surface.
Spinners eight ; those, constituting the inferior pair are united throughout their entire
length.
V e l e d a l in e a t a . PI. X, fig. 96.
Veleda lineata, Blackw., Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., third series, vol. iii, p. 96.
Length of the female, ith of an inch; length of the cephalo-thorax, ^th, breadth, ^ th ;
breadth o f the abdomen, 75th; length of an anterior leg, ?th; length of a leg of the third
pair, ^th.
The abdomen is of an oblong-oviform figure, convex above, and projects over the base
of the cephalo-thorax ; the anterior extremity and the posterior part o f each side are densely
covered with white hairs; the upper part is of a brownish-yellow colour, with three longitudinal,
dark-brown lines, whose posterior half is somewhat ramified, extending its entire
length; one o f these lines, which is broadest towards its anterior extremity, occurs in the
middle, and another is situated on each side of it; the anterior and part of the superior
region of the sides, extending towards the spinners, and the under part, are o f a brownish-
black colour. The cephalo-thorax is long, moderately convex, compressed before, depressed
and rounded on the sides, and clothed with white hairs; it is of a brown-black colour, with
three longitudinal, brownish-yellow lines, one in the middle, and ahother on each side, and
narrow lateral margins of the same hue. The falqes are short, conical, vertical, and of a
yellowish-brown colour. The maxillse and lip have a dark-brown hue, the apex o f the latter
being much the palest. The sternum is of an oblong-oval form; it is thinly clothed with
white hairs, and has a brownish-black hue. The legs are hairy, and the inferior surface of
the tarsus and of the extremity: of the metatarsus of the posterior pair is provided with short
spines; they are of a yellowish-brown colour, with dark-brown streaks and annuli. The
palpi are short, and resemble thedegs in colour, that of the digital joint being dark-brown. ■
Four specimens of this remarkable spider, taken by the Rev. O. P. Cambridge, among
heath, at Lyndhurst, in the New Forest, in September, 1858, were all immature; independently,
however, of this circumstance, the species presents such marked differences in external
structure from the spiders belonging to the several ■ genera included in th e ' family
Cmijtonida, that the expediency of founding a new genus upon it Cannot admit o f a doubt.
Possessing many characteristics in common with the spiders of the genus;UlotorWi, it might
have been placed among them had it not been provided with a fourth pair of spinners and
calamistra, which must exercise an important influence upon its economy.
M. Walckenaer states, on the authority of M. Dufour (‘ Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt;/
tom. ii, p. 229), that the snare of TJloborm Wcdckenaerius is constructed on the same plan as
those of the Epeiridic, from which circumstance it may be inferred that it has not the
additional pair of spinners and calamistra, as the snares o f all spiders provided with this
apparatus, whose economy is known, exhibit unmistakeable evidence o f its having been
employed in their fabrication.