OCR Text |
Show 198 REV. O. P. CAMBRIDGE O N [Mar. 16, The abdomen is of moderate size, not very convex above, but projects over the base of the cephalothorax ; it is clothed very sparingly with short hairs, and is of a jet-black colour. The curved spine on the forehead and those on the radial joints of the palpi are very characteristic, and will readily distinguish this Spider from all other known species of this group of the genus Erigone. A single example was received from M . Eugene Simon, by whom it was found with others ou the Col des Ayes, Casset, in the French alpine regions. ERIGONE VAPORARIORUM, sp. n. (Plate XXVII. fig. 8.) Adult male, length 1 line. The colour of the cephalothorax, falces, maxillae, labium, and sternum is a deep rich brown, the latter nearly black; that of the legs is reddish orange-yellow ; the palpi are yellow tinged with brown ; the radial and digital joints dark brown, and the abdomen black. The cephalothorax is prominent in front, but not elevated, the fore part of the caput being broad, obtuse, and projecting forwards; there is a rather strong, but shallow, transverse impression immediately behind the ocular area, while the occiput is full and rounded; the surface is glossy, and the ocular area is furnished pretty thickly with hairs directed backwards; the clypeus retreats strongly, and its height equals half that of the facial space. The eyes are in four pairs, and present a rather unusual figure, forming a rectangle on the flattish surface of the fore part of the caput; this figure is caused by the unusually wide separation of the eyes of the hinder pair, these, which are slightly the largest of the eight, being divided by an interval almost equal to that between the fore lateral eyes; those of the foremost pair are very small, dark-coloured, and inconspicuous, and near, but not contiguous to each other; those of each lateral pair are contiguous, and have the slightest possible oblique direction, each being almost in a line with the eye of the hinder pair on its side. The legs are moderate in length and strength; their relative length is 4, 1, 2, 3; they are furnished with hairs and a very few slender prominent bristles. The palpi are moderately long and strong: the cubital joint is rather clavate and bent downwards: the radial joint is short, but has its fore extremity on the upperside produced into a large apophysis, covering the greater part of the digital joint, and directed inwards ; the extremity of this apophysis is bifid, the upper, or outer corner being produced into a strong, roundly clavate, prominent projection, curving outwards and upwards, while the inner, or lower, corner is produced into a curved, tapering, sharp-pointed one; this clavate projection makes the length of the radial apophysis almost equal to that of the digital joint; this joint is rather large, and of an oval form : the palpal organs arc highly developed, prominent, and complex ; among the corneous processes of which they |