BY W. J. RAINBOW. 473 



A single specimen, for which I am indebted to Mr. A. Lea. 

 Representatives of this genus, though by no means common, are 

 found in all the Australian colonies. By the form and arrange- 

 ment of the legs they are enabled to move forwards, backwards, 

 or in a lateral direction with facility. They capture their prey 

 either by surprise or pursuit, and conceal themselves under loose 

 bark or among the rugulosities of trees. Their extraordinary 

 appearance, which closely resembles bark, doubtless serves to 

 protect them from the raids of enemies. 



Family CTENID^* 

 Genus Cycloctenus, L. Koch. 



CyCLOTENUS ABYSSINUS, Urq. ^. 



The female of C. abyssinus was described by Mr. A. T. Urquhart 

 in Trans. N.Z. Inst., Yol. xxii., 1889, pp. 237-8, and is figured on 

 Plate XVI. of that volume. That author stated in a concluding 

 paragraph of his paper that " two immature males did not differ 

 essentially in form or colouration from the female examples." 

 Through the kindness of Mr. A. S. Olliff, F.E.S., I have been 

 placed in possession of mature ^ and 5 examples, and upon 

 comparing them, with others which I have since received, 1 find 

 the difierence, though not great, is nevertheless sufiicient to 

 warrant me in describing the $. 



I desire to add, further, that from specimens of the female I 

 have examined I find that there is in some examples a slight 

 difference in the colouration of the abdomen. In some the "faint 

 blackish flecks on lateral margins," as described by Mr. Urquhart, 

 are darker than in others, and slightly larger, irregularities which 



*In Vol. xxii. Trans. N.Z. Inst. Mr. Urquliart placed this genus, by 

 mistake, in the Family Lycosidte, an error which he afterwards corrected 

 in his ''Catalogue of the Described Species of New Zealand Araneidffi," 

 Vol. xxiv. 1892. 



