244 ARANEIDEA. 
extremity is pointed, dropping perpendicularly and projecting over the spinners. Its colour on the sides 
and upperside is dull, dusty whitish, tinged with yellow, and the centre of the upperside is occupied by 
a large deep rich brown area of the same shape as the abdomen, and sharply defined on the somewhat 
sinuous margins, which are edged with a narrow, clear yellowish-white line. The underside of the 
abdomen is marked with a dull blackish-brown central patch, biseeted by a strong elongate white spot or 
bar: a dusky blackish line runs on either side of the central patch from near the spinners to the spiracular 
orifices. Genital aperture of characteristic form, with a pointed process running forwards from its anterior 
margin. 
Hab. Mexico, Teapa in Tabasco (H. H. Smith). 
BION *, gen. nov. (fam. Epeiride). 
25 
Cephalothorax large, longer than broad ; thorax round; caput large, produced forwards ; slightly converging 
on the sides forwards, its width at the eyes being rather less than at the occiput; profile, from the fore- 
central eyes greatly arched, forming, to the posterior extremity, almost a semicircle, slightly flattened at 
the thoracic junction ; lateral marginal indentations strong, as are also the oblique indentations at the 
junction of the caput and thorax ; clypeus not very high. 
Eyes in the three usual Epeirid groups, and occupying the whole width of the caput. The fore-centrals are 
seated on a strong tuberculiform prominence ; the four centrals form a trapezoid longer than broad, and 
its anterior side shortest ; hind-centrals largest; those of each lateral pair are contiguous and seated 
obliquely on tubercles. Taken in two transverse rows, the posterior row (looked at sideways and from 
above) is very nearly straight ; the anterior row has a strong curve, whose convexity is directed forwards. 
The height of the clypeus is about equal to the interval between the fore and hind-central pairs of eyes. 
Palpi short. 
Falces long, moderately strong, straight. 
Mawzille short, strong, very convex in front, very broad and rounded at their extremities, and inclined over 
the labium. 
Labium broader than high, somewhat triangular. 
Sternum rather elongate, heart-shaped, its hinder extremity truncate and produced between the coxe of the 
fourth pair of legs. 
Abdomen very short, heart-shaped, the anterior side much rounded ; the posterior extremity obtusely pointed ; 
the upper surface covered with a coriaceous, shining shield. Spinners short, compact. 
Bion brevis, sp. n. 
Adult male, length 1 line, or slightly less. 
Cephalothorax rich reddish-brown, covered with coarse granulations and short hairs. 
Eyes of hind-central pair separated by a diameter’s interval. 
Legs orange-yellow, the femora, genuz, and tibiee of the first and second pairs, especially the tibie, tinged 
with brown ; femora of the first and second pairs coarsely granulose in front, 
Palpi short, orange-yellow ; cubital and radial joints very short, the latter slightly and obtusely produced on 
the inner side; digital joint rather small, pointed-oval; the palpal organs large, consisting of a large, 
roundish, prominent corneous lobe, with some small corneous projections connected with it. 
Falces prominent in front near the base, and compressed near their extremity, rather paler coloured than 
the cephalothorax. 
Mazille and labium similar to the cephalothorax in colour. 
Sternum somewhat suffused with black. 
Abdomen, on the upperside or shield, shining black-brown, clothed with short hairs; on the sides, which are 
rugulose, and underneath paler blackish-brown. Spinners dull pale yellowish brown. 
Hab. Mexico, Teapa in Tabasco (H. H. Smith). 
* Nom. propr. 
