234 Transactions. — Zoology. 



Art. XXVI. — Description of a Neic Species of Argiope, from 



Fiji. 



By A. T. UllQUHAET. 



[Read before the Auckland Institute, lith October, 1889.] 

 Fani. EPEIEID^. 

 Gen. Argiope, Sav. et And. 

 Argiope Icuco-picta, sp. nov. 



Female. — Ceph.-th., long, 8; broad, 7; facial index, 2-5. 

 Abd., long, 14; broad, 9. Legs, 1, 2, 4, 3 = 36, 33, 30, 

 21 mm. 



CepJialothorax olive-brown, tinted with slate-colour, mar- 

 gined by an interrupted yellowish band ; ocular area reddish- 

 brown ; fairly clothed with silky, white, adpressed hairs ; 

 length equals the tibial joint of a leg of 1st pair ; pars cephalica 

 somewhat aplanate, sides moderately rounded, lateral index 

 I'Smm. ; eye-eminence projects forwards ; pars thoracica de- 

 pressedly convex, sides well rounded ; fovea somewhat cir- 

 cular, large and moderately deep ; radial and caput striae well 

 defined ; profile-contour rises rather abruptly from thoracic 

 junction, dips into median fovea, slopes forwards across the 

 cephalic part with a slight curve ; depth of clypens equals 

 diameter and a half of a fore-centraj eye. 



Eyes on small black rings ; posterior row slightly re- 

 curved ; median pair separated by an interval exceeding 

 their diameter and one-half, about twice that distance from 

 fore-centrals, perceptibly more than their space from lateral 

 eyes of same row ; anterior row strongly recurved, centrals 

 perceptibly larger than hind pair, placed slightly nearer to one 

 another ; their space from lateral eyes, which are rather smaller 

 than posterior centrals, posited obliquely on a common tubercle, 

 three-fourths their breadth from one another. 



Legs yellowish olive-brown, femora clouded and irregularly 

 annulated witli a greenish dark chocolate-brown ; patellae 

 suffused \vith a dark tinge ; tibiae and metatarsi have three 

 broad, not well-defined, annuli of the normal colour ; legs 

 strong, each femur is equal m length to the patella and tibia, 

 and the two latter articles equal the metatarsus and tarsus ; 

 superior tarsal claws — 1st pair rather coarse, 6 teeth increasing 

 in length and strength, 3 basal close ; free end bent, enlarged 

 near base ; inferior claw stronger than superior, rather sharply 

 bent, apex curved outwards ; first tooth long. 



Falpi brownish-yellow, broken brown annuli ; length 9-5 ; 

 humeral joint in length is equal to the cubital and radial 



