| OCR Text |
Show 50 MESSRS. R. I. TOCOCK AND N. C. ROTHSCHILD ON [Jan. 20, the posterior side being much less numerous than on the anterior, the anterior and dorsal surfaces of the segment also spiny ; tarsus covered with rows of spinules ; 2nd leg like the 1st, but with the femur almost quite smooth ; 3rd and 4th legs with tarsi bristly beneath, tibia of 3rd spined below, of 4tli scarcely spined. Abdomen as wide behind as it is long, and twice as wide as it is in front, the anterior border transverse and armed with four tubercles, the lateral border with four small tubercles, the postero-lateral angle with two large superior and two small inferior pale tubercles; between the former are four pairs of shining black tubercles, two pairs of which are much larger than the others ; in addition to these the dorsal surface is furnished with three pairs of small scattered tubercles; lateral surface pitted ; inferior surface with two rows of muscular pits. Vulva undeveloped. Measurements in mm.-Total length 9, carapace 4 ; posterior width of abdomen 5*5, anterior width nearly 3 ; length of 1st leg 14, its femur 4, patella + tibia about 5, 3rd leg 6, tarsus -f P10- tarsus about 5. L og. Kandy. In size and shape this species does not appear to differ appreciably from P. ceylonica 0. P. Cambridge (P. Z. S. 1884, p. 201, pi. xv. fig. 3, sub Ornithoscatoides), which was recorded from Ceylon. The colouring of the two, however, is very different. In P. ceylonica the anterior legs are heavily blackened only upon the protarsi and distal half of the tibia?, the mandibles have no black patch, and the black-and-yellow pattern of the carapace and abdomen, so conspicuous in P. rothschildi, is but little differentiated ; also the cephalic tubercles between the two rows of eyes are much higher in P. ceylonica (see also Simon, Hist. Nat. Araign. i. p. 1043, fig. 1087, 1895). Another Ceylonese species, 0. nigra O. P. Cambr. (loc. cit. p. 202, pi. xv. fig. 4), was based upon the male sex, and cannot, therefore, be compared with those based upon females. A third species, P. fatalis O. P. Cambr. (P. Z.S. 1899, p. 525, pi. xxx. fig. 7), from Ceylon, differs so markedly in form, coloration, tuberculation, &c., as to need no comparison with this new species. Also P. peeliana Stol. (J. A. S. Bengal, xxxviii. 1869, p. 229, pi. xx. fig. 4), from Sibsagar, Assam ; P. tuberosa Blckw. (Ann. Mag. N. HLst. (3) xiv. p. 38, 1864, & P. Z. S. 1884, pi. xv. fig. 2), from the East Indies; and the Burmese form P.pctpulata Thorell, are all different from this new form. To Dr. H. O. Forbes, F.Z.S.1, belongs the credit of the discovery that the coloration of the species of Phrynarachne belongs to the pseudepisematic category. The pattern of yellow and black which decorates the dorsal and ventral sides simulates that of the semisolid central portion of a patch of bird's-dung splashed upon a leaf, the paler more fluid portion being represented by a thin irregular-shaped carpet of white silk, in the centre of which the spider takes its stand. The spider discovered by Messrs. Rothschild 1 P.Z. S. 1883, p. 586, pi. li. |
