OCR Text |
Show 1897.] MR. R. I. POCOCK ON ETHIOPIAN SPIDERS. 757 is furnished at the base on the inner side with a conspicuous tuft of scopulate hairs, the segment at this spot being distinctly bowed, its lower surface being convex basally and its upper concave (this character is readily perceptible by touch, less so by sight owing to the thickness of the hairs); a similar scopular tuft has been described by Karsch in the male of his alicapillatum. Viewed from the front the palpal spine is seen to curve a little outwards, but from the outside it is almost quite straight and defined behind at the base by a shallow notch. Measurements In millimetres. - 2 (type). Total length 48 ; length of carapace 25, width 22 ; length of 1st leg 72, of 2nd 64, of 3rd 56, of 4th 66; patella and tibia of 1st 27, of 4th 24; tibia and protarsus of 1st 30 ; tarsus and protarsus of 4th 24 \ 3 • Total length 32 ; length of carapace 14, width 13 ; length of 1st leg 54, of 2nd 50, of 3rd 43, of 4th 53 ; patella and tibia of 1st 20, of 4th 18'5 ; protarsus and tarsus of 4th 20. Loc. Sierra Leone. Specimens of both sexes received from various sources, including Mr. Charles Wilson and Mr. Mitford. SCODRA BRACHYPODA, sp. n. (Plate XLIII. figs. 8-8 a.) 2 •-Colour practically as in griseipes ; prevailing tint an ashy yellowish grey; an irregular brownish band on each side of the carapace from the ocular tubercle backwards ; a black patch on the upperside of the tarsus and protarsus, and a less distinct double one at the base of the tibia; femora, patellae, and tibiae in part with a pair of pale whitish lines ; abdomen with a median interrupted band, spotted at the sides. Carapace a trifle longer than the patella and tibia of the 1st leg, and as long as its tibia and protarsus, and as the tibia, protarsus, and half the tarsus of the 3rd (4th leg absent). 3. Differing from the female in the same respects as in the case of Sc. griseipes; differing from the male of Sc. griseipes in the following particulars. There is no cushion-like projection on the base of the scopula of the 1st protarsus, and this segment is not bowed but straight, and the palpal spine wdien viewed from the front is not lightly curved outwards but rather inwards, while from the side it is seen to be very distinctly arched from the base to the point; the point, moreover, is not evenly and gradually attenuate, but is more abruptly narrowed in the distal third of its length. The length of the carapace is a little greater than the length of the 4th protarsus, a little longer than the patella and tibia of 3rd leg, equal to the protarsus of 1st + the area of the tarsus to the distal end of the spot, a little greater than the patella and tibia of the palp; equal to the tibia of the 1st leg + the part reaching up to the spot on the protarsus. Measurements In millimetres. - $ (type). Total length 35 ; length of carapace 15, width 13; length of 1st leg 37, of 2nd 34, 1 In this and all cases the measurements of the limbs are taken from the base of the femur. |