NOTES ON AUSTRALIAN ARANEID.E — RAINBOW. 227 



species. There is no retreat constructed in connection with 

 these snares. When resting in the web a Gasteracantha always 

 occupies the centre, and, as usual, rests head downwards. In 

 such a position, owing to their colouration, they form very con- 

 spicuous objects, but their spiny armature doubtless protects 

 them from the raids of insectivorous birds. I have seen many 

 spiders that have been taken from the crops of the latter, but 

 never a Gasteracantha. 



G. minax occurs also in Queensland and Victoria. There is a 

 common black variety of this form to which L. Koch gave the 

 name lugubris, and which he regarded as a distinct species. The 

 differences are merely those of colour, and the size and shape of 

 the spines. Another variety to which the same author also gave 

 specific rank is G. minax, var. aslrigera. This latter variety is 

 black only on the upper surface, whilst the former is black both 

 above and below. Both the typical form and its melanic varieties 

 are common in Queensland, New South AVales and Victoria. 



The cocoon of G. minax is very variable, but very pretty. It 

 is usually found attached to the stem of some adjacent plant, such 

 as a weed, grass, or wild flower, and is more or less elongate in 

 form. Usually it is bound to a stem, longitudinally, but some- 

 times it is pendulous. The colour varies from dark brown to 

 golden-brown or even bright yellow, and examples vary in length 

 from about 35 mm. to 15 mm.; of these the larger are by far the 

 most attenuated. The cocoons are beautifully made and closely 

 woven. Two specimens in the collection of the Museum are 

 attached — one partly to the stem and partly to a leaf of a Flannel 

 Flower (Actinotus helianthi, Labill.), and the other partly to a 

 petal and partly to a stem of a Flannel Flower ; a third example 

 is suspended from a grass stein (Plate lxiii., rigs. 1, 2, 3). 



Other species recorded as occurring in Australia are : G. 

 fornicata, Fab., " Neu Holland"; G. vitlata, Thor., Port Mackay, 

 Queensland; G. tvestringii, Keys., "Neu Holland"; G. sacer- 

 dotalis, L.K., Bowen and Cape York, and to these localities I 

 now add Port Darwin; G. suminata, Cape York; and G. variegata, 

 Walck., Bowen. 



Three genera are included in the group Anepsiere, viz., Aspido- 

 lasius, E. Sim., Anepsia, L.K., and Paraplectanoides, Keys. The 

 first of these is, as far as we kuow at present, restricted in its 

 range to Central America ; the second, although it has not yet 

 been recorded from Australia except in error, may, nevertheless, 

 be reasonably expected to occur here, seeing that it is found in 



