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Show 280 REV. O. P. CAMBRIDGE ON NEW ARANEIDEA. [Mar. 4, spines. This will be found, I think, to be the case also with some other species when collectors will take the trouble to collect a series of examples, instead of being satisfied with a few or even single specimens of those forms which appear to differ most from each other. At present, therefore, it seems rather hazardous to describe, without reservation, as new species, Spiders of this genus differing only, or mainly, from others already described in the relative length, strength, or direction of some, or all, of these spines, especially if the spiders come from the same locality, and even though the difference in the spines may be considerable. Another, often valuable, specific character, but almost unavailable in this group of Spiders, is the colour, and pattern formed by its distribution. The greater number of known species of Gasteracantha have been described from specimens dried and pinned like Coleoptera and other insects; and very frequently dried after having been for some time immersed in spirit of wine. The process of desiccation, under such circumstances, not only destroys the colouring, but very often itself alters the natural direction of the spines. W e are probably therefore, in nine cases out of ten, totally ignorant of the true colours and markings of the Gasteracanthides. It is worth while noting, in proof of this, a description, from life, of a Spider included in the genus Gasteracantha by Mr. A. G. Butler (but probably belonging to a nearly allied one, Peltosoma, Sim.). The description referred to may be found in an account of the British Expedition against the Ashantees in 1874, ' Through Fanteeland to Coo-massie,' by Frederick Boyle, p. 202, and is shortly as follows: - " The shell (of the abdomen) is about an inch across by half an inch in length, of the loveliest and most delicate yellow, scalloped at the edges, where occurs a dainty moulding of blue. Under the beautiful shell, protected by it on all sides, so that not even a claw projects beyond the cover, is the body and head, smooth and of a dark-red colour. Several were brought home. Captain Grant, 2nd W.I., has a handsome specimen." Thinking, from this account of its form and size, that this spider might possibly be identical with Mr. Butler's species (Gasteracantha cambridgii, Butl., Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond. 1873, p. 175, pi. iv. fig. 8), I sent a drawing of the latter to Captain Grant, who at once recognized it as the same species. Captain Grant's specimen was unfortunately lost on the way home; and I had therefore no opportunity of examining it; its identity, however, with the Spider above named may, I think, be taken as certain. I have several dried examples of Gasteracantha cambridgii from the west coast of Africa, and have examined others in the Oxford University Museum, as well as in the British Museum. These are entirely of a uniform dull muddy-brown hue, and do not possess the slightest trace of the beauty described (and, I have no doubt, correctly described) by Mr. Boyle. It is very probable that preservation in spirit of wine might have retained something, if not all, of the original colours and markings of this Spider. I have in spirit numerous species of Gasteracantha ; and many of them show great |