OCR Text |
Show 1897.] MR. R. I. POCOCK ON ETHIOPIAN SPIDERS. 739 Sternum subspherical, almost as wide as long; posterior sigilla submarginal. Legs elongate and slender; the anterior with scarcely any spines, the posterior somewhat strongly spined; tarsi and protarsi of 1st and 2nd somewhat thickly scopulate, the scopulae on protarsi extending to the base, though becoming scanty on that of the 2nd leg; tarsal scopula of 1st divided by a very faint line' of setae, of 2nd distinctly divided, of 3rd and 4th divided by a baud as broad as the segment, the scopular hairs being visible at the sides ; protarsal scopulae of 3rd and 4th represented by a few hairs intermixed with setae and spines, scarcely traceable on the 4th. Ungual tufts distinct. Claws armed with a single short series of teeth in their proximal half. Spinners with basal segment longer than the others taken together; the apical (?retracted) very much shorter than the second, only about one-fourth of its length. This genus, with the ocular area wider than long, the distance between the lateral eyes not or hardly excelling their long diameter, and with normal mandibles, falls into the section Leptopelmatece of the subfamily Barychellnce of Simon (cf. Hist. Nat. Araignees, i. p. 117); and tested by the generic characters of the group published on p. 126, it is related both to Leptopelma and Psalistops, resembling the latter and differing from the former in having the anterior line of eyes strongly procurved, the posterior median eyes small and about half the size of the posterior laterals ; the four anterior tarsi finely, the four posterior very broadly divided, the apical segment of the mammilla very obtuse and shorter than the second, & c , and, if the membranous border be not considered as clypeus, in having the anterior lateral eyes close to the edge of the clypeus. From both, however, it appears to differ in having but three labial teeth, Simon describing the labium of Leptopelma and, by implication, that of Psallstojys, as "inordinate splnulosa In parte apicali." It must be remembered, however, that the apparent differences from Leptopelma presented by the divisional line of setae on the tarsal scopulae may be merely a question of age. Unfortunately, since neither of the genera in question are known to m e in nature, I can make no further comparison between them and Euhrachycercus. EUBRACHYCERCUS SMITHII, sp. n. (Plate XLII. fig. 3.) Colour a uniform ochre-yellow on carapace and limbs ; testaceous yellow clouded with black on the upper side of the abdomen. Carapace sparsely and subserially hairy; as long as the patella and tibia of the 1st and 4th legs and the tibia and protarsus of the 1st leg; less by about half the length of the tarsus than the protarsus and tarsus of the 4th leg. Legs 4, 1, 2, 3; the 4th considerably the longest, its patella and tibia about equal to those of the 1st; 1st leg without spines |