| OCR Text |
Show 628 REV. O. P. CAMBRIDGE ON NEW ARANEIDEA. [Nov. 18, equals half that of the facial space. The colour of the cephalothorax is a deep blackish brown ; the ocular area, a longitudinal central line on the caput, and some converging streaks on the thorax yellow. Looked at in profile, the caput is rather raised above the thorax. The legs and falces are yellow-brown ; the fang deep black-brown, and towards the extremity red-brown. The abdomen, in the only example examined, was of a uniform blackish hue, but this probably arose from its imperfect state of preservation. It was large in front, tapering to an obtuse termination behind. Hab. S. Africa. CCEROSTRIS ALBICEPS, sp. n. (Plate LIII. fig. 8.) Adult female, length 7\ lines. Cephalothorax short, broad, and of the characteristic form belonging to this genus. The upper part of the caput is white, densely clothed with shining white pubescence. Clypeus black, clothed with short grey and brownish hairs; thorax behind black, on the sides bright and red, almost scarlet. Eyes small. Four centrals, on a protuberance, form a trapezoid, of which the posterior end is longest and the sides shortest. Falces powerful, vertical, black, clothed with brownish hairs. Legs not very long, strong, relative length 4, 1, 2, 31, difficult to decide owing to their damaged state. Femora thinly clothed with fine hairs, bright shining chestnut-red, with the anterior extremities shining purple-black ; the rest thinly clothed with grey, white, and brownish hairs and pubescence, black beneath the extremities of the tibiae, and irregularly annulated with black and white on the metatarsi and tarsi. Abdomen large, somewhat round, with two very large long divergent protuberances on the fore half of the upperside of a slightly tapering form, and cleft into two parts, or bifid, at the extremities. Slightly in front of and between these is a small, sharp, conical hump, and two smaller ones also in a transverse line wide apart, behind, towards the spinners. The colour of the abdomen is black-brown, clothed with greyish and brownish pubescence, excepting a large subtriangular patch at the fore extremity densely clothed with short shining white hairs. Perhaps in well-preserved examples there may be some distinct pattern visible, but the only example seen was dried, and from injury and shrinking it was difficult to get more than a general idea of its form, colours, and indument. A fine and striking-looking species owing to the strong contrast of the colours of the cephalothorax. It is nearly allied to C. cowani, Butl., a Madagascar species (P. Z. S. 1882, p. 103, pi. vi. fig. 4 ) , but is a very much larger Spider, and I think distinct, though I suspect that when the various African species of Ccerostris come to be collected in lengthened series from different localities, great variations will be found to exist both in size and other specific characters. |
