EPEIROIDES. 15 
EPEIROIDES, Keyserling. 
The genus Epeiroides, established in 1884 by Count Keyserling ona spider from 
Bahia, appears to differ little from Epeira, excepting in the entire absence of spines 
from the legs, and in the somewhat more elevated form of the abdomen. This latter, 
it is probable, however, will be found to be only a specific character. It seems to 
bear to the genus Epeira about the same relation as Theridiosoma, Cambr., bears to 
Theridion; and indeed to come very near to the Theridiide, and to approach very close 
to Theridiosoma, which stands at one point of the departure of the Theridiide from 
the family Epeiride. 
Epeiroides fasciolata, sp. n. 
Adult male, length nearly 1 line. 
Cephalothorax rather short and broad, but of ordinary Epeira-form ; it is of a yellow-brown colour, the thoracic 
grooves marked by white lines, those following the division of the caput from the thorax continued a 
little way backwards on each side of the central thoracic indentation, marked by a dark red-brown patch, 
from which a dark reddish central line runs to the ocular area, which is also of a red-brown hue. 
The eyes are of moderate size, in the ordinary three groups, but not widely separated from each other, in fact 
they might be simply described as in two transverse curved rows, the four central eyes, seated on a pro- 
minence, being larger than the rest, though apparently themselves of about the same size; they form a 
square whose anterior side is slightly the longest ; the anterior eyes being about an eye’s diameter from 
the lower margin of the clypeus. The eyes of each lateral pair are contiguous to euch other, and seated 
on a tubercle. 
The falces are neither very long nor strong; they are similar in colour to the cephalothorax, and very slightly 
directed backwards. 
The legs are moderately long, but not very strong, 1, 2, 4, 3, those of the second pair being decidedly longer 
than the fourth; they are of a red-brown hue, annulated sparingly with yellowish, or dull orange; and 
are clothed with fine hairs only, being totally destitute of spines or even bristles. 
Palpi short, yellowish ; palpal bulb red-brown, and of moderate size. The cubital and radial joints are very 
short, without enlargements or upophyses, with one or two fine bristles, and a few hairs. The digital 
joint is large; it has no curved process at its base on the outer side, such as in some form or other is usual 
in the genus Zpeira, and it has an ordinary clothing of hairs only. The palpal organs are well developed, 
but not very complex, with a somewhat toothed corneous process beneath their extremity. — 
The mawille are reddish-brown, pale at their extremities, and margined on the outer side with a distinct black 
line for about half their length. In the bent form of the maxille, which incline strongly towards the 
labium, this spider certainly approaches the Theridiide. 
The lJabium is very short, broad, somewhat angular at the apex, which is broadly pale, the rest being reddish- 
brown. 
The sternum is large, of a somewhat subtriangular heart-shape, and rather convexly prominent ; its “echonr 3 is 
yellowish- -white, edged with an irregular, rather suffused border of red-brown. 
The abdomen is rather large, oval, prominent or humped above towards the fore part, the highest poiiit marked 
with a small roundish prominence on each side ; its colour is yellow-brown, marked, but not very regu- 
larly, with red-brown and white markings; the fore part in front of the two prominences is spotted with 
red-brown, and has a few white spots and markings along the median line; behind the prominences are 
one or two transverse white broken lines, and behind these are two indistinct, angular, longitudinal red- 
brown lines converging towards the spinners, and including between their anterior extremities one or 
two white spots; the sides also are marked with some oblique broken lines of white spots and marks. 
The underside is of a uniform reddish-brown hue ; spinners of the same colour, very short and compact. 
Hab. Paxama, Bugaba (Champion). 
