OCR Text |
Show 614 REV. O. P. CAMBRIDGE ON EGYPTIAN SPIDERS. [June 20, Upper Egypt. It is a very active spider, and appears to be nearly allied to the Attus frontalis (Walck.) of Europe. ATTUS MENDICUS, sp. n. Adult male, length 2 | lines ; adult female, 4 lines. The cephalothorax is of a deep brown-black colour, densely clothed with greyish and sandy-grey pubescence, and margined with long white hairs; the hairs on the ocular area are of a distinctly squamose character, and sometimes form alternate longitudinal stripes of a whitish and sandy brownish-red hue. The fore part of the ocular area is also furnished with a few long curved bristles and bristly hairs; and the clypeus equals in height the diameter of a fore central eye. The eyes are in the usual position, and their colour is dull greenish mother-of-pearl ; the ocular area is scarcely broader than long, but projects forward considerably, and the line formed by the two posterior eyes is equal to that formed by the four anterior ones; the lateral eyes of the anterior row are removed considerably backwards, so that, looked at from above and behind, the row is strongly curved, with the curve directed forwards ; the interval between each lateral and the central eye nearest to it is very nearly, if not quite, equal to the diameter of the lateral; the minute eyes of the middle row are respectively halfway between the laterals of the posterior and anterior rows. The legs are strong, moderately long, and of a yellowish colour, indistinctly annulated with brown, furnished with spines, and clothed with hair, chief among which is a more or less dense whitish pubescence ; the tibiae, tarsi, and metatarsi of the first pair are dark brown. The femora of the same pair are somewhat tumid on the outer sides, rather beneath the fore extremity, where they have also a conspicuous double fringe of dark bristly hairs ; their relative length appears to be 4, 3, 1, 2 ; but the difference is not very great; beneath the terminal claws of each tarsus is a black scopula, or brush of hairs. The palpi are yellow, thickly fringed above and on each side with long, curved, white, bristly hairs, among which are a few black bristles; the cubital and radial joints are very short, but of about equal length ; and the latter does not appear to have any apophysis at its outer extremity. The digital joint is equal to the radial and cubital joints together, and of an oblong oval form, truncated at its fore extremity ; it is of a deep brown colour, clothed with long whitish bristles and hairs. The palpal organs are very large, but of simple structure, and of a somewhat globularly oval form ; they are nearly black in colour, and extend backwards and outwards beneath the radial joint. The falces are small, directed backwards, and, from the prominence of the ocular area, placed far back beneath the fore part of the cephalothorax ; they are of a dark yellow-brown colour, clothed with hairs. The abdomen is of a broadish oval form, dark black-brown, |