| OCR Text |
Show 1890.] NEW ARANEIDEA. 627 short, 1, 2, 4, 3, the spines few and slender. The falces strong. vertical, and prominent at their base in front. The eyes are small, seated on black spots ; the four centrals form a small trapezoid a little longer than broad ; the laterals not being greatly removed from the centrals, seated on a small tubercle, and contiguous to each other. The curve of the anterior row of eyes is the strongest, the curves, as usual, opposed-i. e. that of the anterior row directed forwards, and of the posterior backwards. The sternum is black-brown, furnished at its fore part with long hairs. The abdomen is large, oblong, slightly tapering to the spinners, and projects over the thorax; it is of a uniform closely reticulated silvery hue above, excepting an irregular blackish patch close to a low prominence on each side near the fore extremity ; there is also a slender blackish longitudinal central line, emitting a fine black cross-line in front, still finer oblique lines on each side of the hinder half, and two black elongate patches at the posterior extremity, near together and converging to the spinners. The sides of the abdomen, the hinder part of which projects well over the spinners, are blackish, obliquely streaked with silver ; the underside has a large central, uniform, silver area, parallel on the sides, square before, and rounded behind. The spinners are encircled with four round silvery spots, the anterior pair being the largest and widest apart. This Spider, though much resembling some species from Ceylon and South America, is, I think, new to science. Hab. S. Africa. Genus T E T R A G N A T H A. TETRAGNATHA TAYLORI, sp. n. (Plate LIII. fig. 7.) Adult female, length 5 lines. Length of the falces over 2 lines, and exceeding in length that of the cephalothorax. This Spider is of the ordinary T. extensa form, but the falces are very divergent, and project more in the same plane with the cephalothorax than in that species. The fang is very long and strong, bicurvate, with a slight projecting point in the middle on the inner side, and abruptly bent at the base close to its articulation with the falx, and has a small tooth there on the outer side. On each side of this articulation the falx has a strong sharp tooth ; that on the under (and outer) side is much the strongest and close to the articulation. The inner side of the falx is armed (next to the fang) with two strong teeth placed transversely ; these are followed by two converging longitudinal closely-set rows of other teeth, which decrease in size towards the base of the falx ; the inner row being the shortest, but its teeth the strongest. The legs are long-1, 4, 2, 3 ; the spines few and slender. The eyes are placed in two transverse, almost concentric, curved rows ; the interval between the laterals being nearly equal to that which separates the central pairs. The four central eyes form a square whose anterior side is rather the shortest; and those of the hind central pair are slightly nearer together than each is to the hind lateral eye on its side. The clypeus is vertical, and its height |
