Its Description. 225 



this, I have thought myself entitled to publish it as new, and thus 

 enrich the genus Epeira with an additional species. 



Epeira curvicauda. — Vauthieii. 



Description. — Body nearly triangular, fifteen lines long, from 

 the terminal hook of the mandibles to the extremity of the abdo- 

 minal processes (comes caudales ;) head furnished with two horny, 

 black, smooth mandibles (machoires,) terminated by a scaly 

 hook, of a clear brown colour, sinuated externally near the arti- 

 culation ; each mandible (machoire) armed with a double row 

 of four unequal teeth, the last being the largest. The interval 

 between the teeth is furnished with black, stiff hairs, which may 

 be compared to eyelashes, pretty long, extending beyond the in- 

 terior line of the mandibles, (machoires) and indiscriminately 

 mingled together at the base, near the superior margin of the 

 thorax. Two velvety palpi, of a dark brown colour, are attached 

 to the sides of the maxilla?, (machoires) and composed of five ar- 

 ticulations, the first of which is short, the second twice as long, 

 the third curved, and shorter than the first ; the two others are 

 nearly of equal length, the last being terminated by a little black 

 nail. Maxilla? (levres) brown, much shorter than the mandibles, 

 (machoires), rounded anteriority. Labrum (mentori) brown, 

 short, rounded at its anterior margin. Thorax black, very con- 

 vex, twice as broad as long, nearly trapezoidal, with its anterior 

 margin sinuated, slightly rounded at the sides, and completely 

 bristled with pretty stiff white hairs ; in the middle, and towards 

 the anterior margin, are four smooth, very brilliant eyes, placed 

 on a black projecting tubercle without hair ; the two anterior 

 eyes smallest and nearest together. On each side, at the same 

 height, are two other tubercles of the same colour and still more 

 elevated, at the extremity of each of which is a double eye. The 

 legs are velvety, of a testaceous colour, eight in number, each com- 

 posed of five articulations, the last of which is brown, terminated 

 by a bifid hook of the same colour, and so small that it is almost 

 confounded with the hairs that surround it. The first pair of legs 



