| OCR Text |
Show 187L] REV. O. P. CAMBRIDGE ON ARACHNIDA. 619 line or band issues and traverses the side of the Spider (which is of a dull brown colour) quite to the underside ; these lines have rather a backward direction, and are connected by some short parallel horizontal irregular lines of the same colour; in many examples, especially immature ones, the large long oval marking mentioned above contains within it a m u c h narrower one defined sometimes by a dark black-brown dentated line on either side, sometimes by a light yellowish-white one. In some instances the space within this interior marking is darker than that outside it; in other instances it is of the same hue. The underside is dull brown, with six large spots or blotches of yellow or orange (and in one or two examples almost red) ; these blotches are arranged in two parallel longitudinal rows of three each, the four anterior ones being very conspicuous, the other two (near the spinners) not so conspicuous; of the four anterior ones the two nearest to the spiracles are much the largest. The epigyne is corneous and of a deep rich brown-black colour ; it consists of a long narrow transverse opening much constricted in the middle. The male is very small in comparison with the female; the legs are long and strongish, except the tarsi and metatarsi, which are slender ; they are armed with longish black spines, and are of a deep brown-black colour, except near the base of the femoral joints, which (together with the exinguinal joints) are of a reddish yellow. The cephalothorax is of a bright reddish-yellow colour ; and the abdomen, which is somewhat similar but of a yellower hue, is of a flattish oval form, and has on the upperside a shining corneous case- or shieldlike appearance, but little marking is visible, except a largish sort of brown cloud towards the hinder part. The palpi are of a dull orange-yellow colour, not very long, but strong; the cubital and radial joints are short; the latter are rather the stoutest, they have no marked projections at their extremities, but are furnished with a few black bristles ; the digital joints are large, and the palpal organs are also large and prominent and of a very peculiar form, consisting of a nearly globular shining reddish corneous lobe, on the surface of which are some darker sinuous lines ; from the extremity of this lobe there projects a long, strong, somewhat corkscrew-shaped, nearly black, sharp-pointed corneous spine, with a strongish prominence near its sharp point; the length of this corkscrew-spine almost equals (if it does not exceed) the length of the whole palpus, and presents a very formidable appearance ; it is probably intended for use in adhering to the female in the act of copulation. In Neriene nigra (Bl.), the male of which has a smaller but somewhat similar spine connected with its palpal organs, I once found this portion so firmly fixed in the vulva (or epigyne) of the female as to be incapable of extrication without fracture ; in several instances the male of Nephila rivulata had lost the whole digital joint and palpal organs attached ; and I have but little doubt that the loss was occasioned by the impossibility of extrication without fracture, from the female, owing to the firm fixing of this corkscrew-appendage in the epigyne. This Spider, which is nearly allied to Epeira malabarensis |
