Spinnen (Araneae) 
von 
R. 1 Pocock 
(British Museum of Natural History, London). 
Apart from the new genera and species that it contains, this collection of spiders is 
of considerable interest as throwing light upon the hitherto almost unknown fauna of the 
prineipal island of the Moluecan Archipelago, namely Halmahera or Giloloe. Of some of the 
other islands, especially Ternate and Amboina, the spider fauna is comparatively well known 
thanks mainly to the labours of Dr. Thorell upon the material obtained by Sig. Beccari and 
others under the auspices of the Marquis G. Doria of Genoa. But a glance over the tables 
illustrating the distribution of spiders in the Austro-Malayan islands prepared by Thorell 
and published on pp. 684—710 of vol. XVII of the Ann. Mus. Genova, will show that up to 
1881 only four species of spiders all belonging to the family Argiopidae had been obtained in 
Halmahera. A few were subsequently added to the list by M. Simon; but the number 
of known forms was small previous to the visit of Dr. Kükenthal to the island. Now, 
however, the total amounts to over thirty. So far as is at present known a few of the 
species here described as new are peculiar to the island of Halmaheira. Nevertheless there 
is not the slightest doubt that the spider fauna is in all essential respects similar to that of the 
rest of the Austro-Malayan area. The same is also true of the island of Batjan at which 
a few species were obtained. 
Abhandl. d. Senckenb. naturf. Ges. Bd. XXTIT. 75 
