BY W. J. RAINBOW. 517 



Ohs.- — This species is somewhat variable, both in regard to size, 

 colouration, ornamentation, and convexity. Some individuals are 

 slightly darker than others, while the ornamental tracery is also 

 much more prominent. 



Epeira variabilis, sp. nov. 



(Plate XVII., figs. 3, 3a, 36.) 



$. Cephalothorax 5 mm. long, 4 mm. broad; abdomen 10 mm. 

 long, 6 mm broad. 



Cejihalothornx yellowish, hairy, convex. Caput arched, trun- 

 cated in front, glossy, clothed with long hoary hairs. Clypeus 

 yellowish, with curved lateral dark brown bands, convex, clothed 

 with long hoary hairs; median depression deep, lateral radial 

 grooves indistinct. Marginal band broad, fringed with short 

 hoary hairs. 



Eyes black; central group form a trapezium, and are elevated 

 on a moderately high tubercle; of these the front pair are slightly 

 the smallest ; lateral eyes minute, placed obliquely on small 

 tubercles and contiguous. 



Legs long, strong, reddish-brown with dark brown annulations, 

 clothed with dark brown hairs, and armed with moderately long 

 black spines. 



Palpi short, yellow, similar in clothing and armature to legs. 



Falces glossy, concolorous, divergent at apex; each margin of 

 the furrow of each falx armed with a row of three teeth. 



MaxiUce glossy, dark brown, pale yellowish laterally. 



Labium short, broad, arched, dark brown. 



Sternum concolorous, gloss}', shield-shaped, convex, uneven^ 

 moderately clothed with short hoary pubescence. 



Abdomen oblong-ovate, convex, strongly projecting over base 



of cephalothorax; superior surface cream-coloured, and ornamented 



with median and lateral dark and reddish-brown markings and a 



few minute red spots; sides — upper portion dark brown, mottled 



with red and cream-coloured patches and spots, lower portion 



yellowish-grey; inferior surface yellowish-grey with a long broad 



longitudinal patch of dark brown, the margins of which are 

 34 



