Arachnida from Natal. 225 



Thomisus albus (Gmelin) . 



Loc. Durban (LI. A. Spencer). 



Two immature females are referred with some doubt to 

 this common European species. They do not appear to differ 

 from immature examples of albus. Simon has recently re- 

 corded the latter from King William's Town in Cape Colony 

 (Bull. Soc. Zool. France, 1896, p. 221). 



Thomisus anthobius, sp. n. (PI. VIII. fig. 18.) 



Colour yellow ; carapace with a large brown patch on its 

 lateral slope, the upper surface and sides mottled witli white ; 

 ocular region white, ornamented with black stripes, forming 

 an obtuse angle, the longest side of which runs along the 

 upperside of the head from horn to horn, the obtuse angle 

 being on the middle of the clypeus ; from the centre of the 

 basal line runs a pair of black lines to the opposite sides, 

 involving the anterior median eyes ; edge of clypeus white ; 

 mandibles mottled with white in front ; tibia of palp with a 

 median white stripe ; femora, patellar, and tibiee of first and 

 second legs mottled with white below ; abdomen mostly 

 creamy yellow, transversely infuscate behind the points. 



In colour and in almost all structural details this species 

 resembles the West-African T. tripunctatus, Lucas (t/olophus, 

 Doum.), but may be distinguished by the form of the vulva 

 and by its lower carapace. The vulva consists of a trans- 

 versely oval or subquadrate elevated plate, marked with a pair 

 of subcircular pits, separated by a broad partition, which 

 widens posteriorly. In a specimen from Sierra Leone which 

 I identify as T. tripunctatus the pits on the vulva are elon- 

 gate, at least twice the length that they are in T. anthobius. 



Measurements in millimetres. — Total length 14 ; length 

 and width of carapace 5; length of abdomen 9*5, width 12 ; 

 length of first leg 15, of second 16, of third 9, of fourth 11. 



Loc. Estcourt, 4000 feet (G. A. K. Marshall). 



Genus Di^A, Thorell. 



l)io?a decens, Karsch. 



Dicea decens, Karsch, Zeits. gesammt. Naturwiss. 1878, p. 773 



Loc. Estcourt, 4000 feet (G. A. K. Marshall). 

 Originally recorded from Natal. 



