536 | ARANEIDEA. 
20. Micrathena schreibersi. (Tab. LI. figg. 19, 19 @, 2.) 
Acrosoma schreibersii, Perty, Del. Anim. art. Bras. p. 194, t. 38. fig. 9 (2) *; E. Simon, Hist. Nat. 
Araign. édit. 2, i. p. 848, fig. 895 (2)°. 
Plectana macrocantha, Walck. Ins. Apt. ii. p. 183°. 
Total length, 2, including posterior spines, 19 millim. 
Q. Carapace deeply indented transversely just in front of the central fovea. Central posterior eyes one 
diameter apart, central anteriors half a diameter apart; laterals almost in contact. Clypeus equal to 
one diameter of an anterior central eye. Sternum with slight bosses in front of coxe i.—ili., the first 
being the most conspicuous; not produced posteriorly to lie between coxe iv., but its conical point 
terminating in front of these segments. Abdomen with a pair of longer or shorter (variable) conical 
cusps on the anterior margin, divergent and separated by about one and a half times the length of one of 
them ; a pair of longer anterior dorsal spines obliquely directed forwards, separated by the length of one 
of them; a single short lateral marginal cusp on each side midway between the anterior dorsal and the 
posterior spines ; a long stout spine on each posterior angle, divergent and curving obliquely upwards, 
two-thirds as long as the dorsal area of the abdomen; and a single sharp spine below and behind each of 
the latter, divergent, directed backwards and downwards, about as long as the anterior dorsals. The 
chitinous tubular sheath forms a long truncate cone. 
Colour: very variable. Carapace, sternum, and legs pitch-black, tarsi of the latter dull orange. Legs often 
entirely dull orange. Abdomen black; dorsal area as far as the anterior dorsal spines (but not including 
the margins) dull orange; basal half of the posterior spines, and a broad band beneath the lateral margin, 
extending as far as and including the anterior marginal cusps, bright orange; the bases of the posterior 
spines also united behind by a band of orange, having another band below it; behind the spinning-cone 
lies a broad oblong orange blotch, and there is a smaller one in front and another on each side. Often 
the whole of the abdomen is black, including the posterior spines. 
The vulval scapus is without a transverse fovea in front, as in many of the allied species, but is convex and 
continuous with the anterior integument, being notched or emarginate in the centre of its posterior margin. 
Seen from behind, there is a transverse groove immediately beneath the sinuous margin of the scapus, 
followed by a transverse convexity, then another transverse groove bearing the two genital orifices, one 
on each side, each being guarded posteriorly by a thin, erect, rounded, chitinous plate. 
Hab. Mexico, Teapa (H. H. Smith).—Sovutn America, Brazil+?4, Lower Amazons 
(F. O. P.-C.), Ecuador (Rosenberg). 
This handsome species was found commonly by myself in the dark glades, beneath 
the cacao-trees and in the forest, at Pard, on the Amazons. The male is unknown 
to me. 
21. Micrathena sagittata. (Tab. L. fige. 20, 20a-d, ¢; 21, 21a-d, 2.) 
Plectana sagittata, Walck. Ins. Apt. ii. p. 174°; Abbot, Georgian Spiders, no. 50 (?)°. 
Acrosoma sagitiatum, McCook, Amer. Spid. ili. p. 214, t. 21. fige. 8, 8 a—c (9), t. 28. fig. 7 (@)*. 
Epeira spinea, Hentz, Journ. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. vi. p. 21, t. 3. fig. 9 (9); Spiders U.S. 
(ed. Burgess), p. 123, t. 14. fig. 9 (9). 
Acrosoma spinea, Emerton, Trans. Conn. Acad. Sci. vi. p. 326, t. 38. fige. 5,7 (2), 6, 8 (o)% 
Type, 2? =fig. no. 50, Abbot ; deuterotype, d, in coll, Emerton. Total length, 9 12, ¢ 4 millim. 
General characters similar to those of M. gladiola, except that the sternum is not so markedly convex. 
Abdomen with the anterior dorsal spines, which are stout basally, distally sharp, divergent, and directed 
obliquely forwards (but not close over the carapace, as in M. gladiola); a pair of very stout divergent 
spines, bluntly pointed at their apex, directed obliquely upwards, straight or curved, sometimes curving 
