FAM. THERAPHOSIDES.
Gen. Cteniza, Latr.
Cteniza fodiens. Plate VII.
Syn. Mygale fodiens, Walck. Ins. Apt., i. p. 237.
M. Sauvagei, Ausserer, Beiträge zur Kenntniss der Arachniden Familie der Territelariæ (Thor.), p. 36.
Female adult length 10 lines.
Cephalothorax oblong oval, somewhat truncate at each end, and of a dull whitish-yellow brown colour, the normal grooves and furrows are strongly marked, the caput is large and elevated, rounded on the sides and slightly higher near the occiput than at the ocular area, the junction of the thoracic segments is indicated by a strong deep curved indentation, the curve directed backwards; there are a few strong black bristles of different lengths within the ocular space, and several others run backwards in the central line to the occiput. The height of the Clypeus is equal to rather more than the diameter of one of the foremost eyes. The Eyes are eight, and form a rectangular figure whose transverse diameter is the longest, and whose fore side is a little shorter than the hinder one; the longitudinal diameter is about equal to the space between the two foremost eyes; these are the largest of the eight, and are separated by an interval of very nearly two eyes' diameters; the two central eyes are the smallest, and are distant from each other just about one eye's diameter, the eyes of the hinder row are in two pairs forming the hinder corners of the rectangle, those of each pair are nearly contiguous to each other, and the inner one of each is the smallest; these last in the figure appear to be the smallest of the eight, but this arises from the point of view whence the figure was drawn; the two central eyes occupy as nearly as possible the centre of the figure formed by the two foremost eyes, and the two inner ones of the hinder row, and are seated on a large black spot. The
- [Footnote: for this assistance, which will give to my publication a value in the eyes of
Arachnologists which it could not otherwise have possessed. To all those who wish to study the true structural relations of the four spiders, the habits of which are recorded in the following pages, these details will prove of the highest importance; while those who are only interested in the economy of these creatures can readily pass them over. For observers in the field there is a very ready way of knowing these four spiders apart, as it will be seen that when they are somewhat alike the nests are different (Nemesia meridionalis and N. Eleanora), and when the nests are alike (Cteniza fodiens and Nemesia cæmentaria) the spiders are markedly dissimilar.]
