50 ARANEIDEA. 
logs of wood, stones, the bark of trees, &c., and are often abundant in the angles of 
windows and the corners of dwelling-houses, where they spin a slight web and rest in 
a crouching position. The known species number between forty and fifty, but there is 
little doubt that many more remain to be discovered. 
SCYTODES. 
Scytodes, Latreille, Nouv. Dict. d’Hist. Nat. xxiv. p. 1384 (1804). 
Type, S. thoracica, Latr. Hab. Kurope. 
Of the species of this genus occurring in Central America, three only are known to 
me; they may be distinguished as follows :— 
A. Sternum smooth or clothed with fine hairs only (¢); legs annulated, streaked, 
or speckled with black. 
a. Legs yellow, entirely spotted and annulated with black, except the tarsi. 
Carapace and sternum variegated with black, without U-shaped central 
mark. Abdomen pale brown, more or less streaked and speckled with 
black. Mandible in both sexes with a series of conspicuous striz on the 
outer side and a minute cusp at the base of the femur of the pedipalp on 
the inner side. Ventral surface of abdomen of the female with a pair of 
adjacent, elongate-oval, dark chitinous depressions, immediately behind 
the genital rima. Palpal bulb short, broad-ensiform, its apex exhibiting 
a short sharp spur. Anterior central eyes fully one diameter from the 
anterior margin of the clypeus eee eee ee longipes, Luc. 
b. Legs pale yellow, with a few linear black spots and lines beneath the femora 
and on the dorsal surface and sides of the tibiz, whose apex is very 
distinctly black. Carapace reticulated with brown, with a central con- 
spicuous U-shaped mark, its apex emarginate and resting on the central 
line towards the posterior margin, the two branches directed forwards. 
Sternum sometimes unicolorous, often delicately margined and speckled 
with brown. Mandible with scarcely a trace of striation on the outer 
side, but the femur of the pedipalp exhibits a distinct minute spine at 
the base on the inner side. Palpal bulb elongate, geniculate, much 
developed, dilate towards the apex, lamelliform. Anterior central eyes 
less than half a diameter from the anterior margin of the clypeus . 
B. Sternum clothed with stout papilliform hairs or spines ($). Legs unico- 
lorous ; apex of femora and tibie darker. Carapace dark fuscous-brown, 
with a central narrow longitudinal pale band, enclosing a finer dark streak ; 
also a pale lateral area broken and reticulated with brown. Abdomen pale 
purple-brown, with or without transverse pale bars. Palpal bulb elongate, 
ensiform, terminating in a fine filiform spine 
championi, sp. n. 
hebraica, E. Sim. 
