Page:VCH Surrey 1.djvu/221

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SPIDERS The greater part of the species recorded were collected by Mr. F. P. Smith of Islington, and the rest by the present writer. In cases where the generic or specific name quoted is not that under which the spider has usually been recognized in the works of English authors, a note has been added calling attention to the fact. With these few preliminary remarks we may proceed at once with the list of the spiders of Surrey. ARANE^ MTGALOMORPHM ATYPID^E Spiders with eight eyes, four lung books, I. Atypus qffinis, Eichwald. Wimbledon Common (F. P. S.). Adult in May, June and October. This is the only example of the Mygalo- morpba found in the British Islands. Though belonging to the same sub-order as the well- known trap-door spiders of the south of Europe and other tropical and sub-tropical regions, distinguished from the Arachnomorphee by the possession of two pairs of pulmonary organs or lung books and by the vertical movement of the mandibles, these spiders make no trap-door at all. The retreat consists of a long tunnel, half an inch in diameter and from seven to nine inches long, burrowed in the soil, and lined throughout with white silk, terminating at the lower end in a slightly enlarged cell, where the egg-sac is formed and the young are hatched and tended by the female. The upper end of the silk lining is prolonged for and three tarsal claws. about three inches beyond the extremity of the burrow, forming a loose tube, closed at the end, and either lying on the surface of the soil, woven amongst the roots of heather and herbage, or hanging down free, according to the nature of the surroundings. Mr. Enock reports that the spider does not leave this retreat in search of prey, but waits in the slack portion of the tube lying outside the burrow until some insect sets foot upon this silken purse-like structure. Instantly the fangs of the spider's mandibles are struck through the walls of the tube, the insect seized and dropped into the burrow through a rent in the silk, which is afterwards mended from within. The male is smaller, almost black, and may sometimes be found moving slowly about in the sunshine in the neigh- bourhood of the colony. The spider has also been recorded under the names A. su/zeri and A. piceus by English authors. ARACHNOMORPHTE DYSDERID^E Spiders with six eyes and two pairs of stigmatic openings, situated close together on the genital rima ; the anterior pair communicating with lung books, the posterior with tracheal tubes. Tarsal claws, two in Dysdera, three in Harpactes and Segestria. 2. Dysdera cambridgii, Thorell. This spider is also known as D. rubicunda, Wimbledon. Blackwall. Not uncommon under stones and bark of 4. Harpactes bombergii (Scopoli). trees, where it lurks within a tubular retreat. The spider is easily recognizable by its elongate form, orange legs, dark mahogany carapace and pale clay-yellow abdomen. The palpal bulb of the male has no cross-piece at the apex. This spider is also known as D. erythrina, Blackwall. 3. Dysdera crocota, C. L. Koch. Horsley (F. P. S.). Larger than the last species, with a deep orange-pink carapace, orange legs, and abdomen with a delicate rosy pink flush. The palpal bulb of the male has a cross-piece at the apex. Wimbledon. Common on heaths, also to be met with under bark of trees, and recognizable by its ant-like linear form, black carapace and pale abdomen, and its three tarsal claws. 5. Segestria senoculata (Linn.). Wimbledon. Common under bark of trees, amongst detached rocks at the foot of cliffs, and in the crevices of loose stone walls. Recognizable by its linear form and the black diamond- shaped blotches on the dorsal surface of the abdomen. 179