Family AGELENID.55.
No continent on the face of the globe is without representatives of the Ayelenida, which
have the falces articulated vertically or on an inclined plane; Their abdomen ia provided
with three pairs of spinners and with two branchial opercula, and the tarsi are usually
terminated by three, rarely by two, claws.
Bushes and coarse herbage, crevices in rocks and walls, holes in the earth, the underside
of stones, and the inside’ of buildings, are the situations most commonly occupied by
the spiders of; this family. For the purpose of insnaring their prey they construct a sheet of
web, varying in extent, and having, in numerous instances, a tube connected with it, which
either leads to or constitutes the retreat of the spider. This web is attached to objects
in its vicinity by its margin, and frequently derives additional support from fine lines,
intersecting one another at various angles, whose extremities are in contact with its surface
and with objects' situated above and below it.
Gènus AGELENA, Walckenàèr. ' 1
Eyes disposed on the anterior part of the cephalo-thorax in two transverse, curved rows,
whose convexity is directed backwards ; they do not present any very remarkable difference
in size.
Maxilla short, powerful, somewhat oval or quadrate.
U p large, nearly quadrate, or inclined to oval.
Leys moderately long ; the fourth pair is the longest, then the first, and the third pair is
the shortest.
Agelena labyrinthica. PI. X, fig. 97.
Agelena labyrinthica, Walck., Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt., tom. ii, p. 20.
■— — Sund.,-Yet. Acad. Handl., 1831, p. 129.
-■— — Hahn, Die Arachn., Band ii, p. 61, tab. 65, figs. 150, 151.
—- Koch, TJebers. des Arachn. Syst., erstes Heft, p. 14.
— — Blackw., Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., second series, vol. viii,
p. 100.
Aranea — Latr., Gen. Crust, et Insect., tom. i, p. 95.
Titulus 18, Lister, Hist. Animal. Angl., De Aran., p. 60, tab. i, fig. 18.
Length of the female, \ an inch; length of the cephalo-thorax, 3th, breadth, Jth;
breadth of the abdomen, 3th; length of a posterior leg, fths; length of a leg of the third
pair, ^ths.
The. eyes are almost equal in size; the four intermediate ones, form a square nearly,
the anterior pair being rather the largest of the eight, and the eyes of each lateral pair are
seated obliquely on a small tubercle, but are not contiguous. . The cephalo-thorax is convex,
hairy, compressed before, and rounded on the sides, which are marked with furrows
converging towards an elongated indentation in the medial line; it is of a reddish-brown hue,
with a broad, longitudinal band on each side, and lateral margins of a dark-brown colour;
the reddish-brown spaces, are, usually covered with yellowish-brown hairs, and form a
broad band extending along the middle, and another immediately above each lateral margin-
The falces are powerful, conical, vertical, and , armed with two rows of teeth on the inner
surface; the maxillae are short, straight, and increase in breadth from the base to the
extremity,,which is rounded and fringed with long hairs on the inner side; the lip is
somewhat quadrate, being rather broader at the base than at the extremity; and the sternum
is heart-shaped., ^hese parts are of a reddish-brown colour, the maxillae being much
the palest. The legs are robust, provided with hairs and spines, and are of a reddish-brown
hue, the extremities being the darkest; a faint tinge of green occurs on the thighs, and
the tibiae and tarsi are marked with a few dark-brown annuli; each tarsus is terminated
by three claws; the two superior ones are curved and pectinated, and the inferior one
is inflected near its base, on each side of which there are two or three fine teeth. The palpi
resemble the legs in colour, but are without annuli, and have a curved, pectinated claw
at their extremity. The abdomen is oviform, hairy, convex above, projecting over the base of
the cephalo-thorax; it is of a dark-brown tint on the upper part, with a series of fine,
angular, yellowish-brown lines extending along the middle; their vertices, which are directed
forwards, are obliterated at the anterior part of the series by a longitudinal band of a
yellowish-brown hue, and immediately above the spinners there is a spot of the same
colour; the sides are of a dark-brown hue, mottled with yellowish-brown, and the under part,
which is of a yellowish-brown colour, has a broad, longitudinal, dark-brown band on each side,
comprising a yellowish-brown line; the superior spinners are long, triarticulate, and of a dark,
reddish-brown hue, with the spinning tubes distributed on the inferior surface of the terminal
joint; the sexual organs present a red-brown orifice bisected by a longitudinal septum, and
surrounded by a very dark, reddish-brown margin, which is most prominent at its posterior
part; the colour of the branchial opercula is yellow. This species has numerous compound,
sessile hairs on its body and limbs.
The male is smaller and slenderer than the female, but it resembles her in colour. The
palpi are short, and have a red-brown tint, with the exception of the digital joint, which is of
a dark-brown hue, tinged with red, particularly at the extremity; the cubital and radial joints
are short; the former projects a strong, brownish-black apophysis from its extremity, on the
outer side, and the latter, which is rather the shorter, has at its extremity, on the under side,
a longer and more pointed apophysis of a reddish-brown colour, which is protuberant at its
base, and. has a small process on the outer side; the digital joint is oval, pointed at the
extremity, convex and hairy externally, concave within, comprising the palpal organs. These
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