1'rqhhart. — <hi new Species of Araneidea. 118 



Leys slender, pale brownish -yellow, annuli brown, faint 

 above, except at articulation of joints ; bairs very sparse, few 

 bristles, chiefly on metatarsi ; bristle-like hairs on penultimate 

 and terminal joints ; superior tarsal claws partially broken ; 

 inferior 1 tooth, point behind. 



Palpi yellowish ; few hairs ; 2 strong, erect bristles on cu- 

 bital joints, basal curved, shortest ; palpal claw, 7 open comb 

 teeth, increasing in length and strength. 



Falces slender, vertical, nearly equal in length to three 

 terminal joints of palpus ; brownish-yellow. 



Maxilla strong, obliquely truncated on superior side, in- 

 clined towards lip; yellow - brown. Labium semicircular, 

 everted, about one-third length of maxilla? ; dark-brown. 



Sternum broad between coxal joints of 3rd pair of legs, 

 tapering to a point between coxa? of 4th ; rugosity scale-like ; 

 olive-brown, clouded with brown. 



Abdomen ovoid, crenate depression on base ; integument pale 

 olive-brown, numerous lobate flecks of a paler hue ; more than 

 three-fourths of dorsal field covered by an ovate black-brown 

 leaf-like mark, with somewhat acute crenate margins ; on 

 posterior half are a series of yellowish-brown spots, terminating 

 above spinners in a large, somewhat elliptical, centrally con- 

 stricted mark of a similar hue ; petiole black, extends to basal 

 notch, few black dots on either side ; on lateral margins are a 

 few black flecks ; two black streaks curve obliquely backwards 

 from base of petiole ; on ventral field are three dark spots, two 

 beneath the branchial opercula, one contiguous to spinners. 

 Vulva represents a transverse oval depression, margin wrinkled ; 

 projecting outwards from inferior margin are two dark-brown 

 conical processes, separated from one another by a space equal 

 to their basal diameter. 



Port Waikato, A.T.U. 



Theridiiim helvolum, sp. nov. Plate XL, fig. 2. 



Female. — Ceph. th., long, 1-5 ; broad, 1. Abd., long, 2-5 ; 

 broad, 1-8. Legs, 1, 4, 2, 3 = 10, 7*5, 6, 4-2 mm. 



ilephalothora.v light-brown, median band and marginal zone 

 wide, two latter and pars cephalica mottled and streaked with 

 dark-brown ; pale radial streaks on pars thoracica have a 

 somewhat metallic lustre ; clathrate ; broad-oval, moderately 

 compressed forwards ; caput not very convex, lateral index 

 ratber less than space from a hind-lateral eye to the hind-central 

 furthest from it ; median fovea somewhat oval, deep ; normal 

 grooves, faint ; profile contour represents a slight arch across 

 caput, the posterior curve somewhat abrupt and uneven ; 

 clyjmis directed forwards, height equal to about two-thirds of 

 facial space. 



8 



