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Show 1899.] AND SPIDERS FROM TROPICAL WEST AFRICA. 867 Measurements in millimetres.-Total length 14 • length of carapace 6-8, width 5*8 ; length of 1st leg 27*5, of 2nd 28, of 3rd 23*5, of 4th 29. Loc. Benito Biver (67. L. Bates). Besembling T. spinosissimus Karsch, from the same area, in colouring, but recognizable, according to the description of the latter, in having the legs ornamented with white transverse stripes and spots. Although the type of this species is not quite adult, the colouring will probably be found to afford a better criterion of its specific distinction than the form of the vulva. THALASSIUS LEONENSIS, sp. n. (Plate LVII. fig. 21.) Colour a uniform reddish brown above and below ; carapace and abdomen with a silvery white band extending from the sides of the clypeus almost to the spinners, the band on the carapace considerably narrower than the brown margin external to it. Carapace normally high, as high behind as in front, its width equal to the area between the posterior border and the posterior lateral eye; its length equal to length of tibia or protarsus of 4th leg; slightly exceeding tibia of 1st and 2nd, width slightly exceeding tibia of 3rd. Vulva practically as in T. spenceri F. Cambr., from Cape Colony (see P. Z. S. 1898, pl. iv. fig. 1 b), but longer as compared to it's width owing to the greater length of the lateral lobes. Measurements in millimetres.-Total length 21 ; length of carapace 9*5, width 8 ; length of 1st leg 35, of 2nd 35*5, of 3rd 33, of 4th 38 ; tibia of 4th 9*5, protarsus of 4th 9*8. Loc. Sierra Leone. The type of this species is the specimen from Sierra Leone referred by Mr. F. Cambridge to T. spenceri, the type of which came from East London in Cape Colony (P. Z. S. 1898, p. 30). The two specimens appear to me, however, to be specifically distinguishable. In T. spenceri the carapace is very slightly shorter than tibia 1 (not longer as stated in the synopsis : loc. cit. p. 29), and barely exceeds the 1st protarsus, and the width of the carapace is a shade less than tibia 3 ; the lobes of the vulva, too, are shorter and smaller. THALASSIUS BATESI, sp. n. General characters as in T. leonensis, but with yellow band on carapace and abdomen broader. Vulva differing in that the hairy lateral lobes do not meet in the middle line, but are separated in front by a median shining hairless sclerite, which is itself divided by a central longitudinal sulcus. Measurements in millimetres.-Total length 22; length of carapace 9*2, width 7*5; length of 1st leg 36, 3rd 32, 4th 39; protarsus of 1st 8, of 4th 9*8. Loc. Benito Biver (67. L. Bates). Only the female known. |
