NOTES ON AUSTRALIAN ARANEIDyE — RAINBOW. 213 



usually the cephalothorax is thickly clothed with a silky, silvery- 

 white pubescence. Amongst those species in which the cephalo- 

 thorax is longer than wide are Argiope protensa, L.K., and those 

 species described by myself as A. extensa, A. pallida, A. gracilis, 

 and A. bullocki. The posterior row of eyes are strongly pro- 

 curved, and are usually the largest of the group ; the median 

 pair are in an almost straight line, poised upon a tubercular 

 eminence, and are closer together than are those of the posterior 

 pair; the lateral eyes are contiguous, and are poised on tubercles; 

 of these latter the anterior eye is much smaller than its neigh- 

 bour. The epigynum is, with a few exceptions, either a rounded 

 or transverse elliptical depression divided by a strongly arched, 

 longitudinal process. In the genus Argiope, Aud. in Sav., the 

 females are remarkable for their exquisite beauty. A. tetherea, 

 Walck., = A. regalis, L.K., and A. cemula, Walck., — A. magnified, 

 L.K., are familiar, and brilliantly coloured Australian examples. 

 Speaking of the latter. Workman 1 says :— 



" When living this is a very beautiful spider, the colours being 

 most brilliant. It has certain!}' the power (possessed by several 

 other tropical spiders) of turning quite dark when disturbed. I 

 imagine it is able to do so by raising and depressing the hairy 

 covering of the body." 



Both A. dithered and A. cemula are widely distributed, the for- 

 mer, which is popularly known as the "Cris-cross" and "St. 

 Andrew's Cross " spider, occurs both in New Guinea and Aus- 

 tralia, and, although a tropical species, has been recorded as far 

 south as Wollongong- ; the latter species ranges through the 

 Malaysian Archipelago, New Guinea and Northern Queensland. 



Compared with the females those of the opposite sex are veri- 

 table pigmies, and are much more soberly tinted. As with the 

 Nephilina? so with this sub-family, the males live on the upper 

 edge of the web, and subsist upon the smaller insects that have 

 been ensnared, and which are too insignificant to attract the 

 attention of the female. 



Two genera constitute the group Argiopese, namely, Argiope, 

 Aud. in Sav., and Gea, C. Koch, and both occur in Australia. 

 The range of the former has been denned as " Orbis utriusque 

 reg. trop. et subtrop. rarius temper. ; " and the latter : " Africa 



'Workman — Spiders, i.; Malaysian Spiders, 1S96, p. 27. 

 2 L. Koch — Araeh. Austr., i., 1871, p. 44. 



