captured in Rio Janeiro. 41 



sexes. The palpi arc remarkably long, measuring | inch, very 

 slender, and of a yellowish-brown colour, the radial joint being 

 the brownest ; this joint greatly exceeds the cubital in length, 

 and is somewhat enlarged at its extremity, which is supplied 

 with several long and fine spines ; the digital joint is short and 

 of an irregular figure ; the extremity is depressed, with a trans- 

 verse, curved, dark red-brown rib underneath, terminating in a 

 protuberance on the outer side, and is much broader than the 

 base, which is convex and hairy externally, concave within, 

 and comprises the palpal organs ; these organs are highly deve- 

 loped, prominent, and consist of a red-brown spiral process, 

 whose pointed termination is black, and has some pale yellowish- 

 brown membrane contiguous to it. 



The collection of Araneidea made in Rio Janeiro by Messrs. 

 Gray and Clark contained three adult females and one male of 

 this handsome and remarkable spider, which appears to be most 

 nearly allied to the Epe'irida by its organization ; but I am not 

 able to state in what degree its habits and economy tend to 

 establish this relation of affinity. 



An imperfect description and figure of the male have been 

 given by M. Koch from a specimen in the museum at Berlin, 

 probably the only one then known to arachnologists ; but he 

 has fallen into the error of supposing it to be indigenous to 

 Africa. Walckenaer has evidently made his brief description of 

 this species from Koch's figure of the male. 



Genus Tetragnatha, Latr. 

 Tetragnatha splendens. 



Length of the female /^ths of an inch ; length of the cephalo- 

 thorax T L ; breadth T \j ; breadth of the abdomen T V ; length of 

 an anterior leg -X- ; length of a leg of the third pair £. 



The eyes, which are seated on black spots, and are nearly 

 equal in size, are disposed in two transverse rows on the anterior 

 part of the cephalothorax ; the four intermediate ones forma 

 trapezoid whose anterior side is rather the shortest, and those of 

 each lateral pair arc placed on a small tubercle and are nearly 

 in contact. The cephalothorax is compressed before, rounded 

 on the sides, truncated in front, moderately convex, glossy, with 

 slight furrows on the sides converging towards a large indenta- 

 tion in the medial line ; the falces are short, strong, conical, 

 vertical, and armed with a few teeth on the inner surface ; the 

 sternum is heart-shaped ; the legs are long, slender, and pro- 

 vided with hairs and fine spines ; the first pair is the longest, 

 then the second, and the third pair is much the shortest ; each 

 tarsus is terminated by claws of the usual number and structure ; 



