OCR Text |
Show 766 MR. A. G. BUTLER ON [Dec. 19, p. 237); falces large, powerful, cylindrical, narrowing towards the culm, where in the male there is a powerful curved spine ; three strong acute teeth on each side; movable claw long, acute, and curved ; palpus of male rather long, with the bulb large, globular, and shining, altogether quite normal in structure, hairy ; abdomen oblong, rounded behind, truncated and obtusely humped in front, the anterior portion being distinctly higher than the posterior, but depressed transversely behind the anterior border, ventral surface very slightly convex; legs long, slender, very sparsely setose, their relative length 1, 2, 4, 3. Entire length, 8 6| millim., $ 11 millim. East coast of Madagascar. PHORONCIDIIDiE. P H O R O N C I D I A , Westwood. 5. P H O R O N C I D I A A U R A T A . (Plate LVII. figs. 4, 4 a.) Phoroncidia aurata, Cambridge, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 4, vol. xix. p. 31, pl. vii. fig. 9 (1877). Four examples of this rare and extremely beautiful species were obtained in the Betsileo country by Mr. Cowan. Two of these are typical, the abdomen being of a fiery golden colour, with black spines upon red bases; the two others are considerably larger, and the abdomen is of a metallic silver colour, the spines black with red-brown bases, and the ocellations black. This form I propose to indicate as var. argentata (fig. 4 b). GASTERACANTHIDiE. G A S T E R A C A N T H A , Simon. 6. G A S T E R A C A N T H A C O W A N I , sp. n. (Plate LVII. figs. 5, 5 a.) This species will fall into the subgenus Isacantha, and comes nearer to a much larger (apparently undescribed) species, a dried example of which we possess from Ceylon, than to any thing else that I have seen. 8 . Cephalothorax, palpi, and legs blackish piceous ; tarsi banded with horn-yellow ; maxillae, labium, sternum, and abdomen black; abdomen above shining blackish, the anterior border narrowly sordid yellow, a central longitudinal interupted line commencing in an elongated pentagonal spot in the middle of the anterior border pale ochreous. Cephalothorax quadrate, tumid on each side behind the caput, with strongly defined central impressed line, abruptly shelving at the back; eyes arranged much as usual, the central pairs forming a nearly equilateral quadrangle, the posterior pair slightly larger, and therefore apparently wider apart than the anterior pair ; lateral eyes small, aud forming the apices of the anterior angles of the caput, which ascend obliquely in the form of depressed cones from the sutural depression between the caput and the tumid thoracic region |