88 Mr. R. I. Pocock on the Genus Poecilotheria. 



The Museum has specimens of this species merely ticketed 

 " Ceylon." The only examples with exact localities are an 

 adult male and a young female from Kandy (Col. Yerbury) 

 and an adult male from Trincomali (P. Bassett- Smith). 



For the sake of comparison I append measurements * of 

 an adult female and male example of this species :— 



? . Total length 46 ; length of carapace 24, width 20 ; 

 length of first leg 77, of second 67, of third 55, of fourth 67 ; 

 patella and tibia of first 28, of fourth 23; protarsus of 

 fourth 17. 



<? (from Kandy). Total length 35 ; length of carapace 16'5, 

 width 13-8 • length of first leg 66, of second 57, of third 47, 

 of fourth 60, of palp 31'5 ; tibia of fourth 13*8 ; protarsus of 

 fourth 16-5, of first 15. 



(2) Poecilotheria subfusca, Poc. 



Scurria fasciata, Ausserer, Verb. z.-b. Ges. Wien, 1871, p. 199, <S (not 



fasciata, Latr., C. Kocb, &c). 

 Poecilotheria subfusca, Pocock, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (6) xv. p. 171 

 (1895). 



Loc. Ceylon (Peradenia, Pundaloya). 



As in the case of P. fasciata the British Museum has many 

 specimens of this species from Ceylon, but only four of these 

 have a definite locality. These are an adult male (type) and 

 female from Pundaloya (E. E. Green) and a pair of females 

 from Peradenia (Freeman coll.). 



Ausserer failed to identify this species from want of material 

 wherewith to check the constancy of the differences between 

 it and P. fasciata. The latter was known to him only from 

 the female, and his example of this species was a male. The 

 colour variation between the two he regarded to be of a sexual 

 nature. 



* In tbis and all cases the length of the leg is taken from the base 

 of the femur to the tip of the tarsal claws, and does not include the 

 trochanter and coxa. 



The leg measurements must, however, in certain cases be used with 

 caution, for, as compared with the carapace, these appendages are longer 

 in smaller (younger) than in larger specimens ; in other words, with 

 increase of size the carapace increases in length more rapidly than the 

 leo-s. The total length in the table of measurements includes the cara- 

 pace and abdomen, but not the jaws (mandibles). The length of the 

 abdomen, however, is of little importance, since in living specimens it 

 varies greatly in size in accordance with the full-fed or fasting condition 

 of the spider, and in Museum specimens in accordance with the method 

 of preservation, whether in a dry state or in alcohol. Since the carapace 

 is not subject to these alterations, the relative size of two spiders may be 

 estimated by the length of this plate, which may be taken as the standard 

 in Arachnoid mensuration. 



