GASTEBACA^THA. 



231 



on the summit and two on each side ; ocular quadrangle wider 

 than long, narrowed in front. Legs strong, with tibise and pro- 

 tarsi flat and strongly sulcate. Abdomen large, high in front, 

 irregularly tubercular. 



Type, 0. miti-alis, Vinson. 



Distribution. Ethiopian Eegion, Madagascar ; Oriental Eegion. 



255. Caerostris paradoxa, Doleschall, Verh. Nat. Vereen. Nederland. 

 Indie, v, no. 5, p. 37, t. ix. fig. H and t. x. fig. 8, 1859 (Epeira) ; 

 Sutler, P. Z. S. 1879, p. 732, t. Iviii, fig. 5 (Caerostris). 



$ . Colour : integument of carapace and limbs black, carapace 

 clothed laterally with yellow hairs, 

 head and legs with greyish-brown 

 hairs ; femora blackish or deep steel- 

 blue ; tibiae with band of yellow 

 hairs in their basal half below; 

 abdomen yellow - brown, clothed 

 with silvery hairs in the middle in 

 front, elsewhere with golden-brown 

 hairs intermixed with stripes of 

 velvety black ; lower surface olive- 

 black, reddish in middle. 

 Total length about 20 mm. 

 Loc. Ceylon : Trincomali (Yer~ 

 bury}, Punduloya (Green). Burma: 

 Tharrawaddy, Eangoon, Tounghoo 

 (Oates). Indo-Malaysia. 



Fig. 77. 

 Cfsrostris paradoxa, X 



Genus GASTERACANTHA, Sund. 



Gasteracantha, Sundevall, Consp. Arachn. p. 14, 1833 ; Simon, Hist. 

 Nat. Araign. i, p. 845, 1895. 



Carapace with thoracic portion low, cephalic portion elevated ; 

 ocular quadrangle narrower in front. Abdomen large, subquadrate, 

 transversely oblong, or narrowed laterally; integument horny, 

 impressed with large sigilla, and armed on each side with an 

 anterior, a median, and a posterior spine ; spinners encircled by a 

 horny ring. 



Type, G. cancriformis, Linn. 



Distribution. Tropical countries of the world. 



Synopsis of Indian Species. 



a. No ventral tubercle in front of spinners on 



abdomen. 

 a 1 . Length of median spine only about equal 



to half the width of the abdomen G. hasseltii, p. 233. 



b l . Length of median spine at least as great 



as width of abdomen. 

 a 2 . Median spines apically clavate G. remifera, p. 2&*. 



