236 THERIDILDJi. 



anterior two pairs long, with tibiae and protarsi curved, flat above. 

 Abdomen large, high in front, usually irregularly tubercular at the 

 margins. 



Type, P. illepidus, C. Koch. 



Distribution. Ethiopian, Oriental, and Australian Eegions. 



The two species described below may be diagnosed as follows : 



a. Ocular quadrangle wider in front than behind . . P. illepidus, p. 236. 



b. Ocular quadrangle narrower in front than behind. P. pannucetis, p. 236. 



267. Poltys illepidus, C. Koch, Arachn. x, p. 97, fig. 821, 1843. 



Colour : carapace and mandibles blackish ; upper side and front 

 of head reddish, with greyish hairs ; naked parts of femora steel- 

 blue, bands of the same colour on under side of tibiae and protarsi ; 

 hairy clothing on legs and abdomen greyish or yellowish brown 

 mottled with blackish or brown spots, epigastric area of abdomen 

 blackish. Cephalic eminence constricted at base ; ocular quadrangle 

 a little wider in front, as wide behind as long. Abdomen either 

 tolerably evenly elliptical with scarcely a trace of tubercles, or 

 tubercular and with large shoulder prominences. 



Total length about 15 mm. 



Loc. Ceylon: Punduloya (Green); also Indo- and Austro- 

 Malaysia. 



268. Poltys pammceus, Thorell, Spiders of Burma, p. 167, 1895. 



Colour : carapace uniformly brownish ; epigastric area brown ; 

 femora without metallic-blue tints; cepJtalic eminence less constricted 

 at base ; ocular quadrangle slightly narrowed in front, wider be- 

 hind than long. Abdomen with long conical tubercles, furnished 

 in front with a high median apically clavate column bearing six 

 distinct tubercles. 



Total length 12-5 mm. 



Loc. Burma : Eangoon (Oates). 



Family THERIDIIDJE. 



Kecognizable from the Argyopidae by the presence of a series 

 of strong spines forming a comb on the tarsus of the 4th leg, and 

 by the almost entire absence of teeth on the fang-groove of the 

 mandibles, which have no smooth area at the base on the outerside ; 

 the clypeus, moreover, is usually high. 



Sedentary Spiders, spinning webs formed of irregularly arranged 

 threads. 



The species of this family are numerous and mostly of small 

 size. The largest species belong to the genus Lathrodectus. 



