Aranea terrestris, Wider, Museum Senckenb., Band i, p. 215, taf. 14, fig. 10.
Amaurobius terrestris, Kocb, Die Arachn., Band vi, p. 45, tab. 192, figs. 463, 464.
'4^ subterraneus, Koch, Uebers. des Aracbn. Syst., erstes Heft, p. 15: s
— tigrvnus, Koch, Uebers. des Arachn. Syst., erstes Heft, p. 16. ■
Length of the female, ®ths of an inch; length of the cephalo-thorax, £th, breadth, ^ths;
breadth of the abdomen, ^th; length of a posterior leg, fths; length of a leg of the third
pair, 5.
The cephalo-thorax is large, convex, glossy, compressed before, somewhat depressed and
truncated in front, and rounded on the sides, which are depressed and marked with slight
furrows converging towards a narrow indentation in the medial line; the falces are powerful,
vertical, triangular, very prominent at the base, and provided with two rows of teeth
and a dense fringe of hairs on the inner surface; the maxillae are strong, and fringed
with hairs at the extremity, on the inner side ; the sternum is heart-shaped and glossy, with
slight prominences on the sides, opposite to the le g s ; the legs and palpi are robust, and
provided with hairs and spines; each tarsus is terminated by three claws; the two superior
ones are curved and deeply pectinated, and the inferior one is inflected near its base, which
is furnished with two pairs of fine teeth; the palpi have a curved, pectinated claw at
their extremity. These parts, with the lip, are of a dark, reddish-brown colour, the legs and
palpi being the reddest, and the anterior part of the cephalo-thorax, the falces, maxillae, and
lip much the darkest. The abdomen is oviform, hairy, broader at its posterior than at its
anterior extremity, and projects a little over the base of the cephalo-thorax; it is of a
yellowish-brown colour, spotted with black, and a black band, tapering from its anterior
extremity to the spinners, extends along the middle of the upper part; on each side of
this band there is a series of short, oblique, yellowish-brown lines, which, in some individuals,
unite in the posterior region, forming angles whose vertices are directed forwards; the
black spots on the under part are few in number and minute ; the superior spiiiners, which
are the longest, are triarticulate, and have the spinning-tubes distributed on the inferior
surface of the terminal jo int; the sexual organs are glossy, of a red-brown colour, with
a longitudinal septum in the middle ; and the branchial opercula have a pale-yellow hue.
The sexes are similar in colour, but the male is the smaller. The cubital and radial
joints 'of its palpi are short; a large apbphysis occurs on the outer side of the former,
and the latter projects two apophyses from its extremity, one on the outer side, which
is acute, and the other in front, which is obtuse and short; the digital joint is of an oblong-
oval form, and is compact and pointed at its extremity; it is convex and hairy externally,
concave within, comprising the palpal organs, which are highly developed, complicated
in structure, with a bold, obtuse protuberance on the outer side, and a curved, finely pointed
spine on the inner side ; they are of a dark, reddish-brown colour.
A description of this interesting species, which was discovered in the spring of 1826,
beneath loose fragments of rock on Snowdon, in Caernarvonshire, was originally given in the
‘ London and Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine/ under the name of Clubiona saxatilis.
The result of an examination of specimens procured afterwards in various parts of North
Wales, Lancashire, and Yorkshire, was its removal to the genus Drassus (‘Researches in
Zoology’). Subsequent investigations, however, made with great care, have served to
establish the fact that it appertains to the Agelenidce, as it possesses several marked
characteristics in common with the spiders of that family; for example, the anterior part
of its cephalo-thorax is compressed; the superior spinners are triarticulate, are longer than
the rest, and have the spinning-tubes disposed on the under side of the terminal jo int; each
inferior tarsal claw is provided with two pairs of fine teeth near the base, and its web
is of a compact texture, having a tube in connexion with it, extending usually to the extremity
of a cylindrical cavity in the earth, which is frequently excavated by the animal itself.
These facts do not appear to have received that degree of consideration from M. Walckenaer
which their importance demands, as he still seems disposed to retain Ccelotes saxatilis in the
genus Clubiona (‘ Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt./ t. iv, pp. 441, 4 4 2 )|/ With regard to the genus
Amaurobius of M. Koch, as it includes spiders belonging to different families, which are easily
distinguished by their organization, economy, and habits, it must, as at present constituted,
be rejected by systematic naturalists. The great defect of the genera attempted to be
established by M. Koch is, that they are founded too exclusively on the disposition, form, and
relative size of the ey e s; consequently, it sometimes happens that they comprise species
in other respects decidedly incongruous.
Ccelotes saxatilis pairs in April, and in May the female deposits about 120 spherical eggs,
of a yellowish-white colour, not agglutinated together, in a lenticular cocoon composed of
white silk, of a fine but compact texture, measuring half an inch in diameter; it is generally
attached to the inferior surface of stones by a small covering of web, on the outer side of
which particles of indurated soil are frequently distributed.
Genus TEXTRIX, Sufidevall.
Eyes unequal in size, distributed on the anterior part of the cephalo-thorax in two
transverse rows ; four constituting the anterior row, which is slightly curved, are adjacent
and minute ; the posterior row is greatly curved, having its convexity directed forwards, and
comprises the other four eyes, which are large and separated by wide intervals, the two
intermediate ones being the largest of all.
Maxilloe curved towards the lip, enlarged and rounded at the extremity.
Lip large and nearly quadrate.
Leys moderately long ; the fourth pair is the longest, and the other three pairs are equal
in length, or nearly so.