OCR Text |
Show 732 REV. O. P. CAMBRIDGE ON NEW ARANEIDEA. [Nov. 1, equally divided longitudinal lines, which converge as they run backwards. The height of the clypeus exceeds by a little the length of these lines ; the lateral eyes of the hinder row are widely separated from the central pair, and are situated a little further backwards, forming a longer line than the longitudinal ones above mentioned. The legs are of a dark yellowish-brown colour, tinged with olive-green, the femora and the undersides of the tibiee being the darkest; they are furnished with hairs and spines varying in length and strength, mostly on those of the two hinder pairs; the tarsi terminate with three claws. The maxillee, labium, and sternum (whose form and structure are given in the generic characters) are of a yellow-brown colour, the maxillae being tinged with olive. The palpi are short and strong ; the humeral joints are much enlarged, or tumid beneath and on the outer sides of their hinder part; the cubital and radial joints are equal in strength, the former being rather the longest; these two fit closely to each other, and the latter has a bifid prolongation at its outer extremity ; the upper limb of this prolongation is much the longest, and its point is corneous, bluntish, and bent downwards; the digital joint is strong and rather long, exceeding in length the radial and cubital joints together ; it has a slight lobe at its hinder extremity on the outer side, close beneath the projection on the radial joint; it is thinly furnished with fine hairs, and has at and near its extremity several strong curved claws or talons of different sizes; in colour the palpi resemble the legs, the digital joints being of a deep chestnut-brown approaching to black. The palpal organs are well developed, but not complex, consisting of a long, oval, corneous lobe, divided longitudinally by a deep cleft near its outer margin. The falces are long, strong, and conical, a little inclined backwards to the labium, furnished with short hairs, and similar in colour to the sternum. Abdomen oval, very convex above, and greatly projecting over the base of the cephalothorax; it is clothed sparingly with hairs; its sides and underside are nearly black ; almost the whole of the upper side is occupied by a broad pale orange-yellow band, somewhat indented or irregular on its outer margins, enlarging about the middle and narrowing towards the spinners ; the yellow band is charged with a longitudinal somewhat oval patch of blackish colour on its fore part, and this is followed by several transverse curved dusky bars between the blackish patch and the spinners ; these latter (six in number) are short and not very strong, those of the superior pair being the strongest. An adult male received from Natal, Africa. This genus, founded on the very distinct and fine Spider above described, is closely allied to Lachesis (Savigny) and Storena (Walck.), but may be easily distinguished by the position of the eyes, which differs remarkably from that of those genera. As a species it is strongly characterized (in the male sex at least) by the |