ARACHNID A. 



By R. I. PococK, F.Z.S., Superintendent of the Zoological Society's Gardens, 



Regent's Park; late Assistant in the Zoological Department of the 



Natural History Museum, S. Kensington. 



(With Plate LXVI.) 



INTRODUCTION. 



From the proximity of the Maldives and Laccadives to the coasts of Southern India 

 and Ceylon, coupled with the well-known distributional powers of Spiders, it might have 

 been foretold that the Arachnid fauna of these islands would prove to be essentially similar 

 to that of the western portions of the Oriental Region. This has been demonstrated to the 

 full by the collection brought back by Mr Stanley Gardiner. Some of the species, such 

 as Isometrus europaeus, Heteropoda regia and Ulohorns geniculatus which frequent human 

 dwellings, have doubtless been introduced by human agency ; but it is probable that the 

 ancestors of the majority of the Spiders reached these islands on floating gossamer threads, 

 the characteristic mode of travelling of the newly hatched young of most species, of the 

 order Araneae. The presence of only one species of Scorpion, and that a form notoriously 

 liable to dispersal by man's instrumentality, suggests that, unless in veiy remote times, there 

 has been no connection between the Archipelagoes and the mainland of India of a nature 

 suited for the migration of jjurely terrestrial species from the latter to the former ; and 

 this is further borne out by the almost complete specific identity between the faunas. A few 

 species only have been described as new ; but in each case there are no strong grounds 

 for supposing the forms to be peculiar, except perhaps the representative of the genus Desis. 

 The discovery of this genus is one of the most interesting features of Mr Gardiner's work, 

 so far as Spiders are concerned ; for, as stated below, it fills an important and hitherto 

 regrettable gap in our knowledge of the range of this curious marine Spider. 



In addition to the material collected by Mr Gardiner, I have been able to examine 

 a small collection fi-om the Suvadiva atoll in the Maldives, which was kindly sent to me 

 by Mr G. P. Staunton, who, undaunted by the trials and hardships incidental to an enforced 

 residence in this atoll as the result of shipwreck, bottled some specimens of spiders and 

 forwarded them to me upon his arrival at a civilised port. 



In conclusion, I may add that Mr Gardiner has kindly allowed me to figure certain 

 of the more important structural features, which have never been previously illustrated, of 

 some of the commoner species — a concession which I trust will add something to the value 

 of this paper. 



102—2 



