OCR Text |
Show 1902.] NEW UARVEST-SPIDERS. 393 patches forming a series of spots suggesting the median dorsal band of P. opilio; palpi pale, with darker brown stripes on the femur and patella; legs indistinctly annulated, with femora dark brown, the spines white; patella dark below, tibia with an indistinct broad dark band. 3 . Dorsal integument closely granular: carapace with a cluster composed of nearly twenty long and strong or shorter and weaker spines in front of the ocular tubercle; some marginal spines as well; one spine on each side near the tubercle, a transverse row of longer and shorter spines behind the tubercle, and a corresponding row on the posterior segment of the carapace and on the five following fused tergal plates; some additional scattered spines on the terga, especially towards the middle line. Ocular tubercle armed with four pairs of long and strong spines, unequally or subequally spaced, the first rising slightly above the level of the last. Basal segment of mandible shorter than the oculiferous segment of the carapace, reaching as far forwards as the base of the femur of the palp ; armed above with some seta-tipped tubercles and externally with about half a dozen strong curved spines ; second segment unspined, subparallel when viewed from the front. Palp with femur rather strongly tubercular below; tarsus long and arcuate, as long as patella + tibia and perhaps a little longer than the femur. Legs with coxae distally tubercular ; trochanters spined externally and internally; femora studded with serially arranged sharp spiniform tubercles; patellae apically spined above ; tibiae unspined, with flattened dorsal, ventral, and lateral surfaces, the angles being mostly rounded and hairy, not so sharply angular as in P. opilio for example. 2 . Larger than J ; the spines on the carapace (but not on the tubercle*), abdomen, and appendages noticeably weaker. Mandibles smaller, the basal segment without external spikes or spines. Measurements in mm. :- 6 ■ Total length 5 ; length of cheli-cera 3, of palp 6 ; femur of 1st leg 5, of 4th leg 6. 2 . Total length 9 ; chelicera 3, palp 5; femur of 1st leg 4, of 4th leg 6. Loc. S. Africa: Teafontein near Grahamstown (Miss L. Leppan). Also the young of the same or an allied species from Port Elizabeth (Dr. It. Broom). This species apparently differs from P. capense Loman (Zool. Jahrb., Syst. xi. p. 518, 1898), from Matjesfontein, in possessing normally not less than four pairs of ocular spines, instead of three ; in having the tarsus of the palp as long as its patella and tibia taken together, instead of only about as long as the tibia; and apparently in the greater length of the legs- ?', e. the type of P. capense, measuring 8 mm. long, has a second leg of nearly 1 The number of ocular spines is variable ; _4 + 4 seems to be the normal, but sometimes an extra small spine is added below in front or behind, so that there are not uncommonly five spines at least on one side. In one example there are six spines on one side and three on the other. |