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Show 1899.] AND SPIDERS FROM TROPICAL WEST AFRICA. 849 The following W. African species of this genus is unknown to me:- NEPHILA CONSTRICTA Karsch. Nephila constricta, Karsch, Zeits. gesammt. Naturwiss. Iii. p. 834, fig. 4 (1879). Loc. Loango coast. Genus ARIGIOPE Aud. et Sav. ARGIOPE FLAVIPALPIS (Lucas), Epeira flavipalpis, Lucas, Thomson's Arch. Ent. ii. p. 49 (1858). Argiope flavipalpis, Brit. Capello, Jorn. Sci. Lisboa, i. p. 83, pl. ii. fig. 2 (1866). Argiope pechueli, Karsch, Zeits. gesammt. Naturwiss. Iii. p. 340 (1879). Loc. Sierra Leone (Surg.-Capt. Clements); Old Calabar (Miss Kingsley); Cameroons (Capt. Burton and Sir Harry Johnston); Benito Biver (G. L. Bates). The legs of this species vary in tint: sometimes they are noticeably striped black and yellow, as in the form to which Karsch gave the name pechueli, and sometimes of a very much darker, more uniform hue as in the typical A. flavipalpis. The two forms occur at the same locality, and gradations in the coloration of the legs are traceable. I therefore regard A. pechueli as a synonym of A. flavipalpis. ARGIOPE NIGROVITTATA Thorell. Argiope nigrovittata, Thorell, (Eiv. Vet.-Akad. Fdrhandl. p. 300 (1860). Argiope caudata, Blackwall, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (3) xvi. p. 346 (1865). Argiope zairiensis, Brit. Capello, Jorn. Sci. Lisboa, i. p. 82, pl. fig. 1. Argiope suavissima, Gerstacker, Von der Decken's Beisen, iii. 2, p. 495, pl. xviii. fig. 10 (1873). Loc. Congo ; Benguela (J. J. Monteiro). Genus ABANEUS Linn. ARANEUS RUFIPALPIS (Lucas). Epeira rufipalpis, Lucas, Thomson's Arch. Ent. ii. p. 422(1858). Epeira semiannulata, Karsch, Zeits. gesammt. Naturwiss. Iii. p. 334 (1879) ( 2 ) 5 Simon, Bull. Soc. Zool. France, ix. p. 14, pl. ii. figs. 7-8 (1884) (6,2)- ? Epeira penicillipes, Karsch, loc. cit. p. 836 ( 3 ). Loc. Sierra Leone (Surg.-Capt. Clements); Accra(67. A.Higlett); Cameroons (Capt. Burton); Benito Biver (G. L. Bates). This species also occurs on the eastern side of the continent of Africa. It appears to me that the descriptions given of E. rufipalpis and |