402 Mr. J. Blackwall on Sicilian Spiders. 



which has a small, curved, pectinated claw at its pointed ex- 

 tremity. The cephalothorax is long, compressed before, 

 rounded on the sides, convex, glossy, depressed at the anterior 

 part and at the base, with an indentation in the median line of 

 the posterior region, and is of a reddish-brown colour ; a large 

 vase-shaped mark, bounded by an irregular black line, and 

 projecting from its posterior extremity a small bifid mark of 

 the same hue, which terminates in the median indentation, 

 extends from the eyes along the middle, and comprises some 

 irregular brown lines and yellowish-white spots, a few pale 

 hairs, which spring from prominent, pointed, black bases, 

 being distributed over its surface ; there are several black 

 spots on the sides, and a short streak of the same hue on the 

 frontal margin. The falces are of a reddisli-brown colour, the 

 extremity being the reddest; they have a few black spots 

 near their base, a large oblong one near the middle of the 

 inner side, and a yet larger one underneath of the same hue. 

 The sternum is heart-shaped, and, with the maxillae and lip, 

 has a brownish-yellow hue, the base of the lip being much 

 the darkest. The abdomen is short, somewhat oviform, con- 

 vex above, and projects over the base of the cephalothorax ; 

 it has a dull-yellow hue, and is marked with black streaks and 

 spots, which probably describe a regular figure ; but in the 

 specimen from which the description was made it was so dis- 

 figured that the design formed by the distribution of its 

 colours could not be clearly traced. The sexual organs are 

 well developed, have a narrow black margin, and a brownish- 

 yellow septum in the middle, which is enlarged at its posterior 

 extremity. 



The male of this species is at present unknown. 



This interesting spider, on which I have founded the genus 

 Ctenopliora^ was captured by Professor E. Perceval Wright 

 on one of the slopes of Etna. By the relative and absolute 

 length of its legs, by the remarkable armature of the first and 

 second pairs, and by the disposition and relative size of its 

 eyes it makes a near approximation to the only species at 

 present known belonging to the genus Galena {Oalena zonata^ 

 Koch, Die Arachn. Band xii. p. 105, tab. 419. fig. 1032 ; 

 Blackw., Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 3. vol. xi. p. 39), which 

 Koch has placed in the family EjJe'iridce. Both species, by 

 the structure of their maxillfe (and in this particular they 

 present a marked difference) are closely allied to the Theri- 

 diidcB ; and I apprehend that the proper position of the family 

 CtenopJioridce^ in which I include them, is intermediate be- 

 tween the Ejpetridce and the Theridiidce. 



