MICRATHENA. 537 
downwards, one at each posterior angle, and sometimes a minute cusp also at the base of each of these, 
behind and below ; with also a median lateral marginal stout cusp curved backwards. 
Colour : abdomen with the dorsal surface bright yellow, the bases of the spines bright orange, the apices black, 
the posterior spines sometimes half black ; lateral areas spotted with broken longitudinal lines of yellow 
spots ; a more conspicuous wedge-shaped bar of transverse carmine blotches running from between the 
posterior spines to the spinning-tube, which is purple. 
Vulval scapus consisting basally of a broad, convex, shining boss, covering a cavity, which is divided centrally 
by a narrow carina, the apex of the latter being dilated and abruptly recurved. The genital orifices lie 
at the bottom of the cavities on each side. 
3. Abdomen narrower in front, much broader behind; with two lateral cusp-like projections, usually having 
a black point beneath the epidermis, marking the original situation of the long spines noticeable in the 
immature male. These tend to disappear as the spider becomes adult, while the apical spurs become even 
more obsolete. 
Carapace and legs bright orange-red, the latter entirely devoid of spines ; abdomen paler orange-yellow, with 
a pair of conspicuous white spots situated transversely on the posterior third. 
The tibial spur of the palpus is characteristic, differing from that of MW. brevipes in not being bifid, see Plate. 
Hab. Norra America !~*,—Mexico, Orizaba, Atoyac, Teapa (47. H7. Smith), Yucatan ? ; 
GuaATEMALA ’, Guatemala city, Coban, Tamahu, Cunen, Chiacam, Santa Ana (Sarq). 
Mr. Sarg remarks that these spiders construct their webs amongst the leaves of a 
very thorny Bromelia, where they are safe from almost any attack. ‘The colour is 
variable, but made up of gamboge, lemon-yellow, and carmine. 
So far as one can judge, it seems probable that the above synonymy is correct. An 
example of Acrosoma spinea, determined by Emerton, is contained in the British 
Museum; while McCook’s conclusion as to the identity of this species with J/. sagittata 
(Walck.) must also be accepted. The specimens before me from North America are 
very much smaller than those from Mexico or Guatemala, and have the posterior 
spines shorter, stouter, and less divergent; but I can at present find no character in 
either sex on which one would feel justified in separating the two forms. 
22. Micrathena gladiola. (Tab. LI. figg. 22, 22 a-c, 2.) 
Plectana gladiola, Walck. Ins. Apt. ii. p. 182 (?)’. 
Acrosoma gladiolum, Keyserl. Spinn. Amer., Epeiride, p. 8, t. 1. figg. 5, 5a (?) ”. 
Acrosoma aculeatum, C. L. Koch, Die Arachn. iii. p. 58, fig. 211 (2) * (nec Fabr.). 
Total length, 2, 12 millim. 
Carapace uniformly convex, broadly rounded in front, twice as long as broad, scarcely raised behind the 
thoracic fovea, which is distinctly visible. Central quadrangle of eyes wider behind, posterior centrals 
larger, one diameter apart ; anterior centrals half a diameter from the posterior centrals and from each 
other. Lateral eyes situated on a low tubercle, almost in contact, distant from the posterior centrals by 
three and a half diameters of the latter. Clypeus equal to one diameter of an anterior central eye. 
Fang-groove with four teeth above, three below. Sternum exceedingly convex in the middle, forming 
an oval tubercle. Legs 4, 1, 2, 3, clothed with fine bristles only ; coxz iv. almost in contact; femora i.—iv. 
finely granulose with minute setigerous granules in front and beneath. Abdomen with a pair of 
anterior spines, adjacent, parallel, slightly divergent at the apex; a short, stout, coniform, median 
lateral, marginal cusp; a single, longer, stout, widely divergent, slightly upturned spine at each posterior 
dorsal angle ; and a short, stout, conical, cusp-like spine at the base of these behind and beneath. 
Hab. GUATEMALA *, Coban (Sarg); Payama, Bugaba (Champion).—Sovutu America 3, 
BIOL. CENTR.-AMER., Arachn. Aran., Vol. II., September 1904. 3 zt 
