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HEMIPHRYNUS. 



55 



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are longer, exceeding the height of the segment. Legs longer than in H. aztecus, the femur of the 

 fourth always considerably exceeding the width of the carapace ; that of the first variable in length, 

 generally from about twice to twice and a half the length of the width of the carapace. 



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Total length 28; median length of carapace 9-8, its 



width 15 ; length of tibia of chela 13, thickness 3, length of its longest spine 3; height of femur 2-5, 

 length of longest spine 3 ; length of femur of first leg 34, of fourth 22-5. 



Hab. Mexico, Teapa in Tabasco (H. H. Smith), Yucatan (coll. Key serling) \ Guatemala, 

 Cahabon in Vera Paz, and the ruins of Tikal, Peten (Sarg). 



I have seen twenty-seven specimens of this species from the above-mentioned 

 localities, including young and adults of both sexes, varying in length from 7 to about 

 30 mm. This series is particularly instructive, since it proves that the characters are, 

 on the whole, so constant that there is never any doubt even in the youngest specimens 

 as to which of the three Central-American Hemiphryni they belong. In all the crest 

 on the lower side of the tibia of the chela is present, the first spine on the upperside 

 of the hand is longer than the third, and the fifth on the upperside of the tibia is 



shorter than the second, and the spines are noticeably longer than in H. aztecus. 

 The chief difference in the young lies in the fact that the chelae are shorter and 



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much smoother than in the adult. 



The adults vary considerably in size. Two ovigerous females from the ruins of 

 Tikal, Peten, give the following measurements: — #, large specimen ) b, small ditto. 

 Total length 30 (a), 23 (b) ; width of carapace 15 (a), 11 (b), its median length 

 10-5 (a), 8 (b) ; length of tibia of chela 12-5 (a), 8 (b) ; femur of first leg 33 (a), 20 (b), 

 of fourth 21 (a), 13(5). 



3. Hemiphrynus laevifrons. (Tab. XI. figg. 4, 4 a.) 



Tarantula laevifrons, Pocock, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (6) xiv. p. 279, t. 7. figg. 1, 1 a (1894) l . 



Nearly allied to H. raptator, Poc. Colour the same as in that species. Anterior border of carapace less 

 * strongly denticulated ; upperside of mandibles without a pair of tubercles at their distal end. Chela* 



with practically the same spine-armature, except that there is a distinct spine, almost as long as the 

 external of the three inferior spines, on the middle of the anterior surface of the trochanter, and of the 

 three spines on the upperside of the hand, both the proximal and distal are long, but the latter is longer 

 than the former, in the adult almost or quite twice as long. In the young the two are subequal and 

 about one-third of the length of the median spine, but as age advances the proximal diminishes in 

 relative length, while the distal at the same time increases, until ultimately the proximal is only about 

 one-fourth the length of the median and scarcely more than half that of the distal, which itself exceeds 

 half the median. In H. raptator, on the other hand, the distal spine is at all ages small, and never half 

 the length of the proximal, which, in the adult, is about half the length of the median. Moreover, the 



* 



granules on the chela are fewer in number and smaller than in H. raptator. 

 Measurements in mm. — Total length 24; width of carapace 14, median length 9 ; length of tibia of chela 10, 



thickness 3, length of its longest spine 4; length of femur of first 28, of fourth leg 17. 



Hab. Guatemala (Champion) ; Costa Rica (Bogers) ; Panama, Bugaba, Chiriqui 

 (Champion), — West Coast op America (I Colombia or Ecuador) K 





The Godman and Salvin collection contains seven specimens of this species, the 



