from the East of Central Africa. 345 



side to the posterior extremity, its posterior half being irregular 

 in outline, particularly on its superior margin ; four large yellow- 

 spots are disposed longitudinally in the medial line, and a series 

 of four small, depressed, brown spots occurs on each side of it ; 

 several fine brown lines extend along the middle, which are most 

 conspicuous on the yellow spots ; a yellow band, whose posterior 

 half is broken into spots and streaks, some of which are covered 

 with white hairs, passes along the lower part of each side to the 

 spinners, and above those organs there are six small yellow spots 

 disposed in pairs ; on the under part a yellow, curved, transverse 

 band passes immediately below the sexual organs, and midway 

 between those organs and the spinners there is an irregular 

 transverse band of the same hue; the sexual organs are well 

 developed and prominent, the anterior margin being oval, and 

 the posterior one somewhat triangular; these organs, with the 

 spinners and branchial opercula, have a dark-brown hue, that 

 of the inner margin of the opercula being pale-yellow. 



The collection contained four females of this large and hand- 

 some species of Nephila, with which I have connected the name 

 of M. Keyserling, whose researches in this department of arach- 

 nology have contributed greatly to extend our knowledge of the 

 Epeiridce. 



Nephila venusta. 



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

 thorax -^, breadth -^V; breadth of the abdomen -^ ; length of 

 an anterior leg If ; length of a leg of the third pair i. 



The legs are long, slender, provided with fine spines and hairs, 

 the latter being the longest and most abundant on the tibise and 

 base of the metatarsi of the first, second, and fourth pairs ; they 

 are of a reddish-brown colour, the metatarsi and tarsi being the 

 darkest ; the first pair is the longest, then the second, and the 

 third pair is the shortest; the tarsi are terminated by claws of 

 the usual number and structure. The palpi are short, and paler 

 than the legs, the extremity of the radial and the whole of the 

 digital joint being strongly tinged with brown ; the latter is 

 supplied with long hairs and spines, and has a curved, slightly 

 pectinated claw at its extremity. The eyes are disposed on the 

 anterior part of the cephalothorax in two transverse rows ; the 

 four intermediate ones nearly form a square, the two anterior 

 ones, which are seated on a protuberance, and are rather nearer 

 to each other than the two posterior ones, being the largest of 

 the eight ; the eyes of each lateral pair are placed obliquely on 

 a prominent tubercle, and are separated by a considerable in- 

 terval. The cephalothorax is long, somewhat convex, particu- 

 larly in the cephalic region, truncated in front, compressed be- 

 fore, moderately rounded on the sides, which are marked with 



