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Show 758 MR. P. O. PICKARD CAMBRIDGE O N [June 16 A single example of this fine Theraphosid, of the female sex was taken in a huge web of the " Agelenoid " type in the damp low-lying portion of the forest near Santarem. Many more of the webs were seen, but the tube is spun so far down amongst the roots of the trees that it is next to impossible to secure specimens for they retire with lightning speed ou the smallest sign of danger! MELODEITS, gen. nov. Posterior spinning'-mamillae as long as or shorter than abdomen; segments equal in length. Legs shorter, stout, especiallg the femora. Fang-groove ivith a single row of teeth on outer margin and numerous cuspules towards base. Tarsi i. and ii. distinctly scopulate 1, with central series of long setae. Coxa of pedipalp furnished with from 7-10 curved clavlform spines. Base of mandible with 3 or 4 Isolated bristles incrassate at the base. Diameter of anterior central eyes equal to or scarcely less than axis of anterior laterals. MELODEUS SANGUINEUS, n. sp. (Plate XXXIII. figs. 1, 4, 7, and Plate X X X V . fig. 1.) 2. 24 m m . long. Type in coll. Brit. Mus. Nat. Hist. Hab. Santarem, Lower Amazons. 2 .-Colour. Carapace bright orange-red, clothed with short, silky, rufous hairs. Abdomen black, clothed with dense pubescence, furnished with erect black hairs, having on either side two separate longitudinal bands of fine transverse obliquely dull orange blotches, interrupted towards the ventral surface. Ventral area clothed with mouse-grey pubescence. Legs short, stout, yellow-brown, darker towards their extremities, clothed with fine black hairs and rufous pubescence. Sternum and mandibles deep brown, the latter darker at apex, both clothed with black hairs. Carapace a little longer than broad; cephalic area not quite three-quarters the length of carapace. Central fovea deep, recurved ; thoracic striae well marked. Ocular tumulus slightly raised above the level of the carapace; three times as long as its width. Anterior centrals large, circular, half a radius apart, rather less from the anterior laterals. Anterior laterals ellipsoidal, their axis equal to the diameter of anterior centrals. Posterior centrals smallest, oval, half their diameter from anterior centrals, almost in contact with posterior laterals. Posterior laterals ellipsoidal, their axis less than that of anterior laterals, almost in contact with the latter; anterior row almost straight. (N.B. The eyes vary in different specimens.) Mandibles parallel-sided, slightly enlarged towards apex. Fang-groove armed on inner side with 11 stout conical teeth; its floor studded towards the base with numerous minute cusps. Outer margin fringed with rufous hairs, of which 8 towards the base are isolated, separate and thickened towards their base. Sternum longer than broad, set with black hairs, each springing In immature examples the scopula is entirely absent. |
