Supplement to Harvesting Ants and Trap-Door SpidersMoggridge, John Traherne
Science
Supplement to Harvesting Ants and Trap-Door Spiders
Moggridge, John Traherne
Ants; Trap-door spiders
The _legs_ are short and very strong; they are like the cephalothorax
in colour, but paler underneath the femora; this joint in the third
pair is proportionally much stronger than in the other legs; all are
furnished with hairs, bristles, and spines, a group of erect bristles
among the rest occupies the fore part of the upper side of the
metatarsi of the first and second pairs; strong spines of different
lengths are thickly placed beneath and on the lower part of the sides
of the tibiæ tarsi and metatarsi of the first and second pairs. On
the tarsi and metatarsi of the third and fourth pairs similar spines
are distributed more uniformly over the whole surface of the joints,
and on the genual joint of the 3rd pair there is one short strong
spine near its extremity on the outer side, those on the tibiæ both
of the third and fourth pairs being confined to a few on the outer
side, and towards the lower side only. Each tarsus terminates with
three claws, of which the two superior ones have a single strong
tooth towards the base on the lower side.
The _palpi_ are rather long, strong, and similar in colour to the
legs. They are furnished with hairs, bristles, and spines; of the
latter the radial and digital joints have some short and strong ones,
pretty thickly grouped along both their outer and inner sides; the
digital joint ends with a single untoothed claw.
The _falces_ are strong and massive, more so than in _Ct. Sauvagii_,
but of normal form. They are furnished with hairs and bristles, and
with strong spines near their inner extremities on the upper side;
the fangs are strong, folded along the under side of the falces in a
furrow which is toothed along either edge. The colour of the falces
is a rich deep red-brown.
The _maxillæ_ are strong, straight, divergent, with a prominent point
at the inner extremity, and some very short, strong, tooth-like
spines at their base; their colour is dull yellow-brown, and, with
the labium and sternum, they are thickly clothed with short strong
hairs.
The _labium_ is dark yellow-brown, tipped slightly with black; it is
of a somewhat semilunar form, and has a few very short tooth-like
spines near its apex.
The _sternum_ is of a rough oval form, broadest behind and shorter
and broader in proportion than that of _Ct. Sauvagii_ and _Ct.
Moggridgii_; its colour is dull yellow-brown, and it is destitute of
the two shining bare patches conspicuous in both those species.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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