OCR Text |
Show 120 REV. O. P. CAMBRIDGE ON SOME NEW [Jan. 21, above, it is almost round except the fore part, where the clypeus juts forward in a broad and square form. Its colour is a deep brown, marked and mottled with yellowish and with a yellow margin, the caput being furnished with short erect bristly hairs; but the example was much damaged, so that little beyond the form and colour of the cephalothorax, and the position of the eyes, could be ascertained with certainty. The eyes are very minute, forming two parallel curved rows, which occupy the whole width of the caput, those of the lateral pairs being the largest, the fore laterals largest of the eight, seated on a strong tubercle, and separated by a tolerable interval from the hind laterals ; between the two lateral pairs and rather in front of their straight line the four central eyes form a small quadrangular figure, whose fore side is the shortest; the height of the clypeus is equal to the longitudinal diameter of the figure formed by these four small eyes. The falces are short, strong, rather projecting, and equal to the facial space in length. The legs do not differ much in length, their relative length being apparently 2, 1, 4, 3, the difference between 2-1 and 4-3 being very slight. The abdomen was too much damaged to enable any description to be given ; but the peculiar form of the caput (vide Plate XIII. fig. 4 a, b, c, e) distinguishes it at once from any described species known to me. The labium appeared to be longer than broad, somewhat elongated and pointed at its apex. The figures given of the labium and maxillee are, it is believed, tolerably correct. When the now numerous Spiders of the genus Thomisus (Bl.) are divided, this Spider will probably form one of the genus Xysticus (Koch). A single example is in the Hope Collection at the University Museum, Oxford ; but its locality is unknown. THOMISUS OPPORTUNUS, sp. n. (Plate XIII. fig. 5.) Female adult, length lg line. The cephalothorax of this species is massive and nearly square, with the corners rounded off, very convex above, the sides nearly vertical, and the hind slope abrupt, giving it a very Salticiform appearance ; its surface is glossy, and the normal grooves and indentations are quite obsolete ; the colour is deep red chestnut-brown, darkest in front, owing to the eyes being seated on largish black spots, and it is sparingly furnished with a few short hairs ; the height of the clypeus equals nearly about one third that of the facial space. The eyes fire unequal in size, and though preserving the Thomsi-form position, yet occupy a larger space on the fore part of the caput than usual, the laterals being far more distant from each other than ordinarily ; in fact they may be best described as in three transverse lines, 4, 2, 2. The laterals of the first or foremost row (which consists of four eyes) are large, far the largest of the eight, and occupy the extreme fore corners of the upperside of the caput; the two centrals of this row are small and separated from each other by about an eye's |