OCR Text |
Show 1879.] SPIDERS FROM NEW ZEALAND. 685 the labium, which is long, of a diamond shape, sharp-pointed at apex and truncated at the base, the apex fitting up close beneath the extremities of the maxilla;; sternum oval. Abdomen of a somewhat cylindric-oval form. Close in front of the spinners, on the underside, is a short transverse dark fold in the epidermis, which has every appearance of being the external aperture of a special breathing-apparatus; not far in front of this is a much more extensive fold, which, if I mistake not, contains one or two other such apertures; but, in the absence of other examples, 1 can only speak hesitatingly on this point. Spinners six, short, the superior pair strongest, the inferior pair two-jointed, the terminal joint very short. HUTTONIA PALPIMANOIDES, sp. n. (Plate LII. fig. 3.) The length of the adult female is rather over 2 lines. The cephalothorax and falces are of a bright brownish-red colour. The legs dull orange-yellow, tinged with red-brown. The upper part of the caput is furnished with numerous strong hairs, and the height of the clypeus is equal to the diameter of one of the fore-central eyes. The eyes of the posterior row are separated by equal intervals of about the diameter of one of the centrals of that row; the interval between those of the fore-central pair is rather less than a diameter, and each is separated from the fore-lateral eye on its side by a very slight interval. The transverse diameter of the ocular area is about double the length of the longitudinal one. The superior tarsal claws have a very few denticulations, those on the fourth pair of legs are but three in number. I was unable to see the rest accurately. The palpi are like the legs in colour ; the digital joints are long, densely clothed on the outer side with numerous black bristly hairs of uniform length, and on the inner side with some longer coarse bristles, some of which are of a spiny nature. The falces are strong, straight, prominent in front, the profile strongly arched; towards their fore extremity on the inner side is a small group of longish but not very strong teeth, between which and the insertion of the fang are numerous smaller and shorter denticulations. The fang is small and curves closely over the obtuse extremity of the falx. The maxillee, labium, and sternum are similar in colour to the cephalothorax. The abdomen is of a yellow-brown hue, clothed with darker hairs. There are faint traces of a short, oblong marking (pointed behind) at the middle of the fore extremity of the upperside, followed to the spinners by a series of several, similarly indistinct, transverse angular lines. The genital aperture is of a simple, elongated, pointed, transverse-oval form, placed at the posterior extremity of a rather considerable enlargement or prominence. A single example, found at Dunedin, N e w Zealand, was received |