OCR Text |
Show 332 REV. O. P. CAMBRIDGE ON SPIDERS [Apr. 20, digital joint is small; the palpal organs rather complex but compact. Argyrodes amboinensis appears to be an abundant species in Amboina, and is perhaps the finest and handsomest yet known of this group ; it is certainly one of the most distinct with respect to the form of the caput. I am indebted to Dr. Thorell for the examples from which my figures and the above notes have been made. ARGYRODES SCINTILLTJLANA, sp. n. (Plate XXIX. fig. 10.) Length of the adult male f line, and of the female \\ to 1$. The cephalothorax is of a deep brown colour ; the fore part of the lower part of the caput is produced into a strong, prominent projection, which tapers gradually to a point, and, looked at in profile, has a slightly upward direction, being also furnished with prominent bristly hairs. The legs are very slender; their relative length is 1, 2, 4, 3 ; those of the first pair are greatly the longest, being nearly four times the length of the Spider itself; they are of a pale yellow-brown hue, and furnished with short fine hairs. The pcdpi are short, similar in colour to the legs; the radial and cubital joints are very short; the digital joint is also small, oval; and the palpal organs are compact, not very complex, and have a short, curved, spine-like process at their extremity, with a longer, curved transverse spine just behind it. The falces are moderate in length and strength, and, with the maxillae, which are of normal form, are similar in colour to the cephalothorax, the labium and sternum (also of normal form) being of a darker colour. The abdomen is of a deep brownish sooty-black hue ; the posterior extremity is greatly produced, ending in an obtuse and nearly round form. The profile forms an evenly ascending line from the fore to the hinder extremity ; and the spinners are placed at an angle nearer to the former than to the latter. Looked at from above and behind, the upperside is marked with two oblique pale stripes on each side on the hinder half; each stripe is charged with a row of irregular silvery spots which sparkle like diamonds in different lights. When looked at in profile there are, besides the stripes of sparkling spots just noted, on each side, at the fore extremity, a shorter horizontal stripe of a similar kind, and a bold round sparkling silvery spot just above the spinners ; near the middle of the underside, in a transverse line, there are also two other rather larger round spots of the same kind, and another just beneath the hinder extremity of the produced part. The abdomen of the female is larger, but less long in proportion, its hinder extremity scarcely so obtuse, and sometimes of a cylindric form. The colours and markings of this sex, however, are the same as those of the male. Adults of both sexes of this beautiful little Spider were received from Mr. G. H. K. Thwaites, from Ceylon, where they occur in the |