OCR Text |
Show 1008 REV. O. P. CAMBRIDGE ON NEW [DeC. 15, striction and the spinners; immediately behind the constriction is a broad transverse band of somewhat iridescent greenish scales. The coriaceous plate connected with the sheath of the pedicle is mixed black and reddish, the sheath portion being covered with coarse granulations. The underside is deep black-brown. Hab. Ceylon. Gen. nov. P R I U L A (fam. Gasteracanthldce). Cephalothorax as broad as long, upper surface rather flattened, profile forming a gradual, very slightly convex slope from the hinder extremity to the eyes. Caput broad, squarely truncate before. Height of clypeus about one-third that of the facial space. Normal grooves and indentations fairly marked, but not excessive. Eyes small, not differing much in size;_ in the usual three Epeirid groups, forming a transverse straight line across the whole width of the fore extremity of the caput; each group seated on a strongish tubercular prominence. The central group of 4 eyes forms a square; those of each lateral pair are near together, but not contiguous. Legs short, not very strong, subequal in length, apparently 4, 1, 2, 3, furnished with hairs only, the femora of tbe first and second pairs granulose. Falces tolerably long and strong, conical, directed backwards. Maxlllce and labium: these were difficult to be seen, owing to the specimen having been dried and pinned and the underparts concealed by the folding over of the legs, but they appear to be much like those of Epelra. Sternum heart-shaped. Abdomen diamond-shaped, the anterior angle truncated, and the exterior ones each prolonged into a long, strong, cylindrical, wranulose lateral spine-like projection, directed rather backwards, and enlarged or clavate at the extremity, which ends in a group of six or seven small conical prominences. The length of each of these spiny projections exceeds the width of the abdomen. The whole surface of the abdomen is chitinous (like Gasteracantha), granulose, and marked with numerous sigilliform markings, in number and position as indicated in the figure; at the centre of the upperside is a round shiny boss-like prominence; and the margins of tbe abdomen are furnished with short tuberculiform spines or prominences, of which the longest and most spine-like are one on each side not far in front of the long lateral projections ; between the hinder extremity of the upperside of the abdomen and the spinners are several strong transverse ridges, resembling diminishing repetitions of the upperside, the intermediate spines between that and the first ridge being marked, like the upperside, with sigilliform markings. The spinners are continued in a circular sheath about the middle of the underside. |