OCR Text |
Show 1893.] SPIDERS FROM ST. YINCENT, WEST INDIES. 697 the tarsus and the proximal end of the metatarsus pale, and has fringes of black hair under the femur and the tibia. The spines are black. In the female the whole spider is lighter coloured, the integument being brown, and there is less of the bright red than in the male. The ground-colour of the abdomen is a soft velvety reddish brown. The markings are like those of the male, and are equally variable. In both sexes the spinnerets are rather short, the external ones being covered with brown and the middle ones with white hairs. A common species. _ DENDRYPHANTES OCTO-PUNCTATUS, sp. nov. (Plate LXI. figs. 5-5 i.) 3- Length 5-5. Length of cephalothorax 2-5; width of cephalothorax 2. Some males are considerably smaller, having a total length of about 3*5. $. Length 4-4. Length of cephalothorax 2; width of cephalothorax 1-8. Legs, 3 1, 4, 2, 3; the first is stouter than the others and, especially in the larger variety, is much the longest, exceeding the second by the tarsus, metatarsus, and nearly all of the tibia ; the others are nearly equal. $ 4,1, 2, 3; the first is a little the stoutest. The cephalothorax is scarcely longer than wide ; the sides are curved, the widest point being behind the dorsal eyes. It is high, the highest point being at the dorsal eyes, the cephalic part falling slightly toward the first row of eyes, while the thoracic part rounds backward and downward quite abruptly in its first third and then falls still more steeply. The whole of the upper surface is rounded. The quadrangle of the eyes is one-third wider than long, is wider behind than in front, and occupies a little more than two-fifths of the cephalothorax. The first row of eyes is a little curved; the middle eyes are separated slightly from each other and more widely from the lateral eyes. The lateral are a very little more than one-half as large as the middle eyes. The second row of eyes is nearer the first than the third row. The third row is plainly not so wide as the cephalothorax at that place. The clypeus is narrow. The falces of the male are stout, rather long, with long strong fangs, diverging and somewhat obliquely directed forward, so that they are sometimes visible from above ; those of the female are rather stout and long, parallel, and vertical. The sternum is oval. The maxillae are fully twice as long as the labium and are rounded. The labium is longer than wide. In the male the integument is of a rich dark brown colour. The upper surface of both cephalothorax and abdomen seems to have been covered with yellow hairs or scales. There are two wide snow-white bands on the sides of the cephalothorax, and a curved white band around the anterior end and the sides of the abdomen. On the dorsum are eight dark spots on a light ground, |