| OCR Text |
Show 604 REV. O. P. CAMBRIDGE ON EGYPTIAN SPIDERS. [June 20, side longest. These four eyes are very large, the posterior ones being rather less than the anteriors; the two centrals of the front row are larger than the laterals, and further from each other than from the lateral nearest to it, the row itself being shorter than the middle row. The legs are long and moderately strong; their relative length apparently 4, 3, 1, 2, those of the fourth pair greatly exceeding the rest; they are of a straw-yellow colour; the femora are marked on their outer sides with a broken longitudinal stripe, and faintly annulated with pale yellow-brown ; they are furnished with hairs and numerous pale, but not very long nor strong spines; and each tarsus terminates with three pale claws, of which the superior pair are very long and slightly curved, their hinder part finely pectinated; the inferior claw is exceedingly short, and bent almost perpendicularly downwards; the extremities of the tarsi* (which are subdivided, giving the legs eight joints instead of seven) are also furnished all round with longish slender spines. The palpi are of moderate length ; their colour is yellow, and the terminal claw long, slightly curved, and minutely pectinated. The falces are moderately long and strong ; they are of a yellow-brown colour, with a dark brown longitudinal band in front, nearly as wide as the falces, and they are furnished in front with numerous hairs and long bristles. The maxilla and labium are of a dull brownish hue, tipped with pale yellow. The sternum is nearly circular, and of a uniform pale straw-yellow colour. The abdomen is of a yellow colour, rather darker on the sides, spotted and marked with brownish black, and also with some spots, lines, and patches of white pubescent hairs; these latter give the Spider a remarkable appearance, the darker markings being much obscured by the general yellowish hairy clothing; when examined closely, however, and especially when in spirit of wine, the usual characteristic markings become apparent enough. The normal longitudinal macula on the fore half of the upperside is of a yellowish brown hue, pointed behind, and with some black marginal spots ; and the transverse chevrons are formed by more or less perfect blackish lines; the sides are spotted and marked with blackish. Three immature females of this Spider were found at the roots of stunted herbage on the desert near Jebel y Silsilis, in Upper Egypt. LYCOSA FIDELIS. Lycosa fidelis, Cambr. Spid. Palest. & Syr., P. Z. S. 1872, p. 319. Lycosa galerita, L. Koch, iEgypt. u. Abyss. Arachn. 1875, p. 69, Taf. vii. fig. 1. The peculiar structure of the palpal organs of the male of this Spider, well represented in Dr. Koch's figure (loc. cit. supra), with some other striking characters, render its identity with L. galerita, * The subdivision of the tarsi of this and another allied Sinaitic species (L. prcelongipes, Cambr.) will probably necessitate the formation of a new genus for their reception. |
