M. J. Blackwall on Sicilian Spiders. 397 



intermediate eyes describe a square ; and the eyes of each la- 

 teral pair are seated obliquely on a tubercle, the anterior ones 

 being the largest of the eight. The falces are short, strong, 

 cuneiform, and vertical ; the maxillaj are convex near the base, 

 pointed at the extremity, and inclined towards the lip ; and 

 the sternum is heart-shaped. These parts are of a yellowish- 

 white colour, the base of the falces, in front, and the base and 

 sides of the maxillaj being tinged with brown ; the sides of 

 the sternum are marked with black spots, and a short streak 

 of the same hue is directed forwards from its posterior extre- 

 mity. The lip is triangular, and has a dark-brown hue, the 

 median line and apex being the palest. The legs are provided 

 with hairs and spines, two parallel rows of the latter occurring 

 on the inferior surface of the tibiaj and metatarsi of the first 

 and second pairs, which are much longer and more robust than 

 the third and fourth pairs ; the second pair slightly surpasses 

 the first, and the third pair is the shortest ; each tarsus is ter- 

 minated by two curved, pectinated claws ; these limbs have a 

 dull-yellowish hue freckled with black on the femora and 

 tibia? ; the third and fourth pairs are the palest, and are marked 

 with a few conspicuous black spots on the upper part and 

 sides. The pal])i are short, and have a small curved claw at 

 their extremity ; they resemble the legs in colour, but are 

 without black marks. The abdomen is somewhat oviform, 

 broader at the posterior than at the anterior extremity, mode- 

 rately convex above, and projects a little over the base of the 

 cephalothorax ; the sides are corrugated ; and the upper part, 

 on which a few upright black bristles are distributed, has a 

 strongly dentated band extending along the middle about two- 

 thirds of its length ; it is bordered laterally by an irregular 

 brownish-black band, and terminated by a slightly curved, 

 transverse, lilack bar, whose convexity is directed forwards ; 

 the dentated median band comprises five small, pale-brown, 

 circular depressions ; the three anterior ones form an angle 

 whose vertex is directed forwards, and the other two are situ- 

 ated parallel to its base ; its colour, and that of the upper part 

 of the sides and a space above the coccyx, is yellowish white, 

 but in aged individuals dull yellow ; the lower region of the 

 sides and the under part have a rather darker hue, being 

 freckled with black : the sexual organs are small, with a 

 septum in the middle, and of a red-brown colour, that of the 

 branchial opcrcula being brown. 



Thomisus rotundatus. 



Thomisus rotundatus, Walck., Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt. torn. i. p. 600; 



Blackw., Journ. of the Linn. Soc, Zoology, vol. x. p. 415. 

 (llohosm, Ilahn. Die Arachn. Band i. p. 34, tab. 9. fig. 28. 



