OCR Text |
Show 1879.] REV. O. P. CAMBRIDGE ON NEW ARANEIDEA. 285 abdomen. The anterior spines are directed slightly forwards; and the posterior are a little longer and stronger. The cephalothorax is of a deep brownish black colour ; that of the legs dark brown, and the abdomen dull yellowish brown; the spines and sigilla (which are of normal number and form) red-brown. Hab. Sarawak. GASTERACANTHA MADAGASCARIENSIS. (Plate XXVL fig. 10.) Gasteracantha madagascariensis, Vins. Aran, des lies de la Reunion, Maurice et Madagascar, p. 242, pi. ix. fig. 6.) From a careful examination of a series of examples received from Madagascar, I can detect no difference in the form of the abdomen, nor in the relative length, strength, or direction of the intermediate spines. It is a much smaller Spider than G. formosa, Vins., and quite distinct in its colours and markings. The figure (10, Plate X X V L ) is from one of the examples mentioned above. There appears to be considerable variety in the extent and continuity of the black markings on the abdomen. GASTERACANTHA FORMOSA. (Plate XXVL fig. 11.) Gasteracantha formosa, Vins. Araneid. des lies de la Reunion, Maurice et Madagascar, p. 244, pi. ix. fig. 7. G. petersii, Karsch, Monatsb. k. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, 1878, p. 322, pi. 1. fig. 6 : Mozambique. G. milvoides, Butler, Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond. May 1873, p. 159, pi. iv. fig. 2 : South Africa. G. transversa 1, C. L. Koch, Die Arachn. iv. p. 14, pi. cxiii. fig. 259 : hab. ? G. varians, Cambr. M S . 1876 : Madagascar. G. frontata, Bl. Ann. & Mag. N. H. Dec. 1866, p. 463: S.E. Africa. Non G. frontata supra. I feel but little doubt that all the Spiders included under the above synonyms are identical-although the difference in the relative length, strength, and direction of the large lateral (or intermediate) spines is not inconsiderable, and the proportional length and breadth of the abdomen (exclusive of the spines) also differ. Out of eight examples (included under Gr. varians, Cambr.) received from the same locality in Madagascar, no two are exactly alike in the points above mentioned, though all are undoubtedly of the same species; the variations of the different examples run into each other, so as to defy any attempt to characterize them as distinctive of species. The typical form of G. formosa, Vins., is present among these eight examples, of which I have figured three of the varieties most widely separated from the typical form. In fig. 11 the large lateral spines are not only stronger than those of the typical G. formosa, but their curve and direction are exactly opposite. In fig. 11 a the spines are straight, and project at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the abdomen, one of them being much stronger and of a different form from the other; in fig. 11 b we have a nearer approach to the typical formosa. |