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Show 008 ' REV. O. P. CAMBRIDGE ON EGYPTIAN SPIDERS. [June 20, teristic prominent process near the centre is short, stout, obtusely pointed, and with a slightly pointed spur at its base nearly as long as the process itself, with which it forms by its direction a very obtuse angle. Falces black-brown, but in some examples (probably those more recently come to maturity) yellow, merely clouded with dusky brown. Sternum dusky brown to black, with a short yellow central stripe or marking. Maxilla and labium yellowish dusky brown to black, with the extremity of a clearer hue. Abdomen black, or nearly so above, with the normal markings on the fore half of the upperside broad and somewhat angular in the middle, fining to a point behind, and of a bright orange or lemon-yellow ; this is followed to the spinners by a series of strong but short angular bars, or chevrons, generally confluent, decreasing in size as they go backwards, and marked with a few distinct black points or spots ; the sides are yellow, more or less clouded with black; and the underside is black, margined on each side with a straight yellowish line. Individuals are frequently found altogether of a lighter hue, and with the underside of the abdomen clear yellow ; but the pattern above described on the upperside may be easily traced, being defined by black spots and markings on a yellow ground ; in these examples the palpi are also yellow, the radial and digital joints alone deepening to dusky black. The females generally resemble the males ; but the central cephalo-thoracic band is often dilated behind the ocular area, and constricted at the occiput, the anterior dilatation being more or less extensively marked with yellow brown; the normal macula and succeeding chevrons on the abdomen also often form a broad dentate yellow band narrowing to the spinners ; and marked with a series of pairs of black points or spots; in this sex the legs also are far more strongly and distinctly annulated with brown. Adults of both sexes were common near Alexandria. LYCOSA OBSERVANS, sp. n. The adult male of this Spider is 2 lines in length. It is very closely allied indeed to L. inopina, and is found in the same locality and situation ; but it is rather smaller, and its colours are in general far less distinct, and run more one into the other, the pattern formed by their distribution being similar ; the cephalothorax has no lateral yellow bands visible in either sex ; and the posterior half (sometimes more) of the femora of the first pair of legs is black, the corresponding part of the second pair being also suffused with the same hue. The palpi are black, the radial and digital joints densely clothed with hairs; the palpal organs are somewhat similar ; but the characteristic process is far less strong, its basal spur being of equal length with the process itself, obtuse, and forming with the process a more acute angle than in L. inopina. It is possible that this Spider may be the L. proxima, Koch, |
