
A NEW MARINE SPIDER. 75 
Description of a new Marine Spider from S. 
Africa, collected by the Rev. N. Abraham, 
and presented to the Derby Museum. 
By R. L. Pocock,* 
Of the British Museum (Natural History ). 
THE following description of, what appears to be, a new species of spider, 
is based upon an adult female example which, together with some immature 
specimens, was presented to the Derby Museum by the Reverend N. Abraham, 
who collected them at Wynberg, S. Africa. 
The existence of marine spiders, living in rocks on the shore, is no new 
discovery. Several have been described from various parts of the Eastern 
and Australian seas, and one of the same group, as mentioned below, was re- 
corded not long since from S. Africa. No account, however, was given of the 
habitat of this spider, so it may be fairly claimed that the species forming the 
subject of the present paper, is the first spider certainly known to be marine, 
that has been recorded from Africa. 
The distribution of the family Deside, which has been established for 
these marine spiders, is exceedingly interesting, inasmuch as the restriction of 
the genera, so far as is at present known, to the seas of S. Africa and of 
Australia and Eastern Asia, furnishes another instance of similarity between 
the fauna of the Australian and Ethiopian Regions, and supplies another item 
of evidence in favour of a former land connection between the two 
countries. t 
Paradesis, gen. nov. 
This new genus, and the allied form Desis, which ranges from Singapore to 
New Zealand, may be recognised by the following tables :— 
a. Four eyes of posterior row sub-equally spaced, distance be- 
tween posterior median eyes at least as great as distance 
between the anterior lateral and anterior median on each side. 
Desis, WVualck. 
b. Four eyes of posterior row unequally spaced, space between 
the medians only a little more than half the space between the 
median and lateral on each side; space between posterior 
medians much less than space between median and lateral of 
anterior row. 
Paradesis, yen nov. 
Paradesis tubicola, sp. n. 
Colour.—Cephalothorax and mandible chestnut red ; cephalic region of 
the carapace darker than the postero-lateral portions; legs and abdomen 
greyish brown. 
Carapace covered with a clothing of fine erect hairs, a little narrowed in 
front ; width of head about two-thirds the length ot the whole plate ; ocular 
area apparently about six times as wide as long; space between anterior 
median eyes less than their diameter ; space between posterior medians about 
three diameters. 


* The Director begs to thank Mr. Pocock for so kindly complying with his request 
to describe these specimens. 
+ For further evidence supporting this connection ¢f. ‘‘The Chatham Islands: 
their Relation to a Former Southern Continent.” By Henry O. Forbes. Supple- 
mentary Papers, R.G.S. III, 1893. 
