—♀—Walck., Hist. Nat. des Ins. Apt. 1, p. 235.
---- —— Cuvier's Règne Animal, ed. Paris. 20 vols. 18—? Pl I., A. Dugès del. ♂ et ♀.
Adult female, length 7 to 9 lines.
Cephalothorax oval, truncated and almost equally broad at each end; the upper surface is moderately convex, the caput elevated a little above the rest, and equally rounded on the sides and upper part; the profile of the whole cephalothorax forms a general sloping slightly curved line, broken by the thoracic junctional pit or fovea, which is narrow but strong, and gently but equally curved, the convexity of the curve directed forwards; the thorax next to this fovea is rather gibbous, but not over any great extent of surface; the other normal indentations are tolerably strong; the colour of the cephalothorax is yellow-brown, darkest on the sides of the caput, and along the thoracic indentations, palest on the margins, forming a pale marginal border indistinctly vandyked on the inner edge. The surface is clothed, but not densely, with yellowish-grey adpressed hairs; there are a few black bristles in a straight transverse line, directed forwards from the lower margin of the clypeus; also a few more bristles curved and of various lengths before and behind the ocular area, their points meeting over this area, and a row of strong, nearly erect ones in a longitudinal central line from the ocular area to the junctional fovea; besides these are a few more, finer and less conspicuous, along the middle both of the caput and thorax; the colour on either side and in front of the ocular area is orange yellow-brown, and joining with this a broad band of the same runs backwards from the ocular area to the thoracic fovea. The band begins as wide as this area, it then directly enlarges a little, and thence tapers slightly and gradually to its termination, forming a truncate wedge, with the margins rather irregular, but on the whole a little curved. This band is not immaculate, there being two dark yellow-brown tapering lines or bars along the greater part of its length; these bars begin from each outer pair of eyes of the hinder row, and tapering to a fine line, converge to the thoracic fovea, but do not quite meet. It is important to note the exact form and distribution of the central band and these tapering bars, as their differences from the character of the similar part in another closely allied species are strongly specific; the above description holds good in above twenty examples before me.
The eyes are in two transverse lines, forming an area whose length is rather less than 21/2 times its width; the foremost line is curved, and the curve directed backwards, the hinder one is also curved and in a similar direction, but less strongly, looking laterally the extreme margin of the four eyes of the hinder row forms a straight line. Considered as in pairs, those of the fore-central pair are separated by an interval equal to that which separates each from the fore-lateral and hind-central nearest to it; the fore-laterals are divided by about two and a half diameters; they are the largest of the eight, only slightly however, in some examples, larger than the hind-laterals. Each of them is separated from the hind-lateral on its side by not quite half the diameter of the latter, and each hind-lateral is very nearly but not quite contiguous to the hind-central on its side; the hind-centrals are roughly rounded, smallest of the eight, though in some examples equal in size to the fore-centrals, and are separated from the fore-central nearest to it by about one diameter, which gives a clue to the absolute distance between the eyes of the foremost pair. The four lateral eyes are oval, the fore-centrals round; those of the foremost row are darkish coloured, while those of the hinder row are pearly white.
Although it is of great importance to observe as accurately as possible the relative position and size of the eyes, yet we must be prepared to find exceptions to the rule derived from the most exact measurements in any individual instance.
In the present species the above conclusions, as to position and size, are drawn from a consideration and comparison of 20 examples, and are, it is believed, pretty true, but yet in one example, one of the hind central eyes was but half the size of the other, and in another example one of the same eyes was but one-fourth of that of the other, a mere dot in fact, and the relative size of the respective lateral eyes of the two rows do not appear to maintain exactly the same proportions in all individuals. The height of the clypeus appeared to be as nearly as possible half that of the facial space.
The legs are strong, moderately long, their relative length 4, 1, 2, 3, though in some examples those of the second and third pairs are equal in length; in others, those of the third pair are slightly longer than those of the second; here again, as with the eyes, although the relative proportion of the legs of spiders is an important specific point, and in general tolerably reliable, yet accurate observation and measurements prove that there are small differences in individual instances. The legs are yellow-brown in colour, furnished with hairs, bristles, and a few spines. The outer sides of the genual joints of the third pair are destitute of spines; in two instances only out of 20, this joint had a single, not very conspicuous, spine. The superior tarsal claws have 4-5 minute pectinations underneath near their base.
The palpi are moderately long and strong, and similar in colour and general armature to the legs; they terminate with a single, strong, sharply curved untoothed claw.
The falces are of a deep black red-brown colour, strong and prominent, and flat, but not cut away, on their inner sides; they are furnished on their upper sides with black bristles and yellowish-grey hairs, disposed in longitudinal lines; these bristles are strongest and most numerous on the inner margin of the upper side, increasing in strength forwards where, near the extremity, are some strong spines.