OCR Text |
Show 1897.] MR. R. I. POCOCK ON ETHIOPIAN SPIDERS. 755 rest of these and the other limbs clothed with foxy-grey hairs ; abdomen blackish above, black and grey hairs intermingling ; at the sides the greyish hairs predominate, while below the area between the spinners and the lungs is again black. Carapace distinctly longer than patella and tibia of 4th leg but less than those of 1st and greater than tarsus and protarsus of 1st; the central tubercle in the middle of the fovea not rising above the level of the surrounding area of tbe carapace and consequently much wider at the base than it is high, its basal width a little excelling that of the ocular tubercle, which is high, wider than long, not quite twice as long as the clypeus. Eges as in Harpactira • space between the medians rather less than their diameter, which about equals the space between the laterals and is not greater than their long diameter. Legs 1, 4, 3, 2 ; patella and tibia of 1st considerably longer than those of 4th ; tarsus and protarsus of 3rd a little shorter than those of 1st; tarsus and protarsus of 4th about equal to patella and tibia of 1st; legs spiny as in Harpactira ; 3rd but little thickened ; protarsus of anterior legs unmodified in male ; tibial spine as in Harpactira, I. e. consisting of a curved conical process tipped with a long curved spine. Palpal organs on the same plan as in Harpactira and Pterinochilus. Measurements in millimetres. Total length 35 ; length of carapace almost 18, width 15 ; length of 1st leg 54, of 2nd 47, of 3rd 41, of 4th 54; patella and tibia of 1st 20, of 4th 17. Loc. Salisbury, Mashunaland (J. ffolliott Darling). Two adult male examples. Apart from some differences of colour this species may be at once recognized from the preceding by the small size of the cephalofchoracic tubercle. There is no evidence that this distinction is merely of sexual importance. I dedicate this species to Mr. Guy Marshall, who bas been good enough to collect many Arachnida for the British Museum both in Mashunaland and' Natal. As long ago as the spring of 1895, he sent me an example of this genus from Salisbury; but the specimen unfortunately had the carapace crushed in the region of the fovea, so that the clue to its generic peculiarity was destroyed and the example was set aside as an unidentifiable species allied to Harpactira. Subfamily THERAPHOSIN^E. Genus SCODRA. Scodra, Becker, C E . Soc. ent. Belg. 1879, p. cxlii; Simon, Hist. Nat. Araignees, i. p. 174 (1892). Stromatopelma, Karsch, Berl. ent. Zeits. 1881, p. 218. SCODRA CALCEATA (Fabricius). Syn. Aranea calceata, Fabricius, Ent. Syst. ii. p. 427. „ Scodra aussererl, Becker, C B . Soc. ent. Belg. 1879, p. cxlii; ibid. 1881, pl. 2. fig. 1. |