OCR Text |
Show 1879.] REV. O. P. CAMBRIDGE ON NEW ARANEIDEA. 281 vividness of colouring, as well as distinctness of markings. This very seldom the case with dried specimens, of which I possess some similar in species to those preserved in spirit; but the former give no idea at all of the colours and pattern shown in the spirit-preserved examples. Among the species of Gasteracantha described below is a very minute male adult (G. rogersi, sp. n., p. 292, pi. XXVII. fig. 23), from the river Coanza. This is as yet only the second male described in the genus. Few collections of Spiders come from exotic regions without containing (more or fewer) examples of the female sex; but, excepting in the two instances mentioned, the male sex appears to be nonexistent. This latter sex (as in those two cases) is probably always a pygmy compared with the female, and is very likely a good deal, if not altogether, different in respect of its abdominal armature. The females sit quite exposed in their orbicular snares, and so need a defensive armature, which the males do not require if they are, as I imagine, almost always, if not invariably, very minute, and live mostly in some kind of concealment or other-being also perhaps, compared with the female, very short lived. Two others of the Spiders here described are remarkable, and I believe quite novel, in their form-Gasteracantha crepidophora, sp. n. (p. 287, PI. XXVII. fig. 14), from Dorey, New Guinea, and G. acrosomoides, sp. n. (p. 289, PI. XXVII. fig. 19), from Madagascar. The two larger spines of the former very exactly resemble a pair of sharp-toed boots; and the latter is exceedingly like some spiders of the genus Acrosoma. GASTERACANTHIDES. Genus GASTERACANTHA. GASTERACANTHA QUADRISPINOSA, sp. n. (Plate XXVI. fig. 1.) Adult female: transverse diameter of abdomen, exclusive of the spines, 6 lines ; longitudinal diameter 2-Jr. Abdomen transverse-oblong; anterior margin curved, the convexity of the curve directed forwards; posterior margin curved to about the same degree, with the convexity of the curve directed backwards. Spines four, not very large, one at each of the four corners of the oblong, those of the anterior corners shortest and weakest, with a slight but distinctly forward direction ; the posterior spines rather less in length than the width of that part of the abdomen, and projecting in a line parallel with its transverse axis. Colour yellow-brown, the spines and sigilla (which are of normal number, size, and position) rather darker. Legs short, femora yellowish, the rest dark blackish brown, and (as also are the spines) furnished with short hairs. The cephalothorax projects but little beyond the fore margin of the abdomen, and is of a deep rich black-brown hue. This Spider is allied to Gasteracantha malayensis, Sim., and G. mengii, Keys., two species very closely allied to each other, if |