A6 4 Mr. J. Blackwall on new Species of Spiders 
of which, of a somewhat smaller size, have been received from 
India. 
The numerous instances of the distribution of spiders of the 
same species over extensive and widely distant regions of the 
globe may be explained by their having been conveyed across 
intervening oceans in ships and by the action of currents of air, 
especially of those known as the trade-winds and monsoons, on 
the silken filaments emitted from their spinners. 
Genus Arcyorrs, Savigny. 
Argyopes gracilis, n. sp.? 
_ Length of an immature female = of an inch; length of the 
cephalothorax 3, breadth 3; breadth of the abdomen +; length 
of an anterior leg +; length of a leg of the third pair 2. 
The abdomen is of an elongated slender figure; its anterior 
extremity, which has the appearance of having been cut directly 
across, has a minute tubercle on each side, and projects over the 
base of the cephalothorax ; the posterior extremity, which almost 
tapers to a point, extends greatly beyond the spinners, and has 
a small protuberance on each side; the upper part is of a yel- 
lowish-white colour, with a dark-brown crescent-shaped mark at 
its anterior extremity, whose convexity is directed upwards, and 
spots and irregular streaks of the same hue on each side of the 
medial line, the latter being most conspicuous on its posterior 
half; three strong, conical, yellowish-white prominences, marked 
in front with a curved, oblique, dark-brown line that passes over 
their summit, project from each side, and below them there are 
numerous irregular longitudinal lines of the same hue; from 
each minute anterior tubercle a dark-brown line passes below 
the first lateral prominence ; the under part, which is irregularly 
bordered with white, is of a brownish-black colour, and com- 
prises some small white spots, three of which are disposed in a 
triangle near the spinners ; these latter organs, with the branchial 
opercula, have a red-brown hue, and the inferior surface of the 
elongated tail-like extremity is densely freckled with black spots. 
The eyes are disposed on the anterior part of the cephalothorax 
in two transverse rows; the four intermediate ones are placed 
on a protuberance, and nearly form a square; and the eyes of 
each lateral pair are seated obliquely on a tubercle, and are near 
to each other, but not in contact, the anterior one being much 
the smallest of the eight. The cephalothorax is compressed be- 
fore, rounded in front and on the sides, slightly convex, with a 
shallow, brown indentation in the medial line of the posterior 
region ; it is of a pale dull-yellow hue, with a broad brown band 
extending from each side of the cephalic region to the base, 
