1915. ] F. H. GrRAveLy : Oriental Tarantulidae. 453 
Phrynichus nigrimanus (Koch).! 
The Indian and Madras Museums possess between them speci- 
mens from all but one* of the following localities, all of them on 
the eastern side of the Indian Peninsula :— 
Orissa: Hills, o'rooo ft., near Barkul, Chilka Lake ; Balugaon 
Chilka Lake. 
Ganjam: Russelconda. 
Vizagapatam District. 
Nellore: Rambuga cave, Udyagiri droog. 
Karnul: Bairani, Chelama Ry. Station, Nallamalais, ca. 2000 ft. 
N. Arcot: Vellore. 
Chengalpat: Pallavaram, 12 miles from Madras. 
Salem: Shevaroy Hills. 
Barkul is the only place where I have myself collected speci- 
mens of this species. They are quite common in the hills and in 
the jungle at the foot of them, but I failed to get any very large 
specimens or ovigerous females—though I went for this purpose in 
the rains, when P. ceylonicus breeds. None of the specimens found 
had lost the third spine on the dorsal surface of the distal end of 
the tibia of the arm; but one of the largest of them, in which it was 
quite small (about 0°5 mm. long), did so on casting its skin after a 
few weeks’ captivity, when the spine was reduced to a tubercle. 
The width of the carapace of the cast skin of this specimen is 12'0 
mm., that of the specimen itself being 14:0. Probably mature 
specimens are at least I4 mm. across the carapace and live, as is 
more or less the case with other species, in the securest retreats. 
In the hills further south the species attains a much greater 
size than at Barkul. This does not, however, appear to be the 
case near the coast since the width of the carapace of the Pallava- 
ram specimen, in which the third spine on the dorsal surface of 
the distal end of the tibia of the arm is absent, is barely 13 mm. 
The third spine on the dorsal surface of the distal end of the tibia 
of the arm is over 2 mm. long in the specimen from Rambuga cave, 
the width of whose carapace is Ir mm.; and it is nearly 24 mm. 
long in two specimens from the Shevaroys whose carapaces are 
nearly 1m and a little over 12 mms. broad respectively. The 
largest specimen I have seen is that from Bairani, whose carapace 
is 20 mm. broad. It appears to be a mature female. The length 
of the femur of the arm is 38°5 mm., and the third dorsal spine 
at the distal end of the tibia of the same appendage is tuber- 
culiform. This specimen belongs to the Madras Museum. It 
is possible that this form and the one common at Barkul may 
ultimately have to be recognized as distinct varieties or subspecies. 
| Die Arachniden, XV, p. 69, fig. 1464. 
2 The only specimen I have seen from Vellore belongs to Rev. J. E. Tracey, 
to whom my thanks are due for sending it. It is doubtless identical with the form 
described by Hansen (Ent. AZed. 1V, 1894) as common at Vellore. 
