South Indian Arachnology. 221 



and the plains of the Oarnatic the rainfall is about 50 inches 

 per annum ; on the Nilgiris anything from 50-160 inches, 

 while in the Dolosbage district of Ceylon it is 250 inches. 

 The reason for the prolific rainfall in Ceylon is that it gets 

 both the south-west and the north-east monsoons, while the 

 Coromandel Coast of South India receives only the north- 

 east which bursts at the middle of October and recurs at 

 intervals till January. Throughout the greater part of the 

 year Madias is dry — in 1911 the rainfall from 1st January 

 to 30th June was half an inch — and spiders are not common. 

 As soon as the first burst of the monsoon is past, then they 

 appear in large numbers and the webs of the Argiopidse are 

 abundant. 



On the Nilgiris the plateau gets both monsoons, the south- 

 west bursting in full force against the western slopes, while 

 the north-east, greatly diminished in strength, reaches the 

 eastern slopes. Ootacamund, towards the centre of the 

 plateau, receives a very little of the north-east but much 

 more of the south-west. On the hills with the higher rain- 

 fall spiders are common all the year round. The high 

 rainfall of Ceylon ensures a far greater abundance of spiders 

 at all times than can ever be found in South India — excepting 

 perhaps Cochin and Travancore, for there the vegetation is 

 really tropical and insects are numerous. 



In the few cases where I have drawn and painted spiders, 

 I have done so in order to show the beautiful natural colours 

 which, so often being changed or totally destroyed in spirit- 

 specimens, have never been seen by the European authorities 

 to whom collections have been sent from the East. Members 

 of seventeen families have been discussed, but all the 

 Mygalomorph spiders, the Thomisidse and Salticidae (Attidse), 

 though commonly represented, I have in the present paper 

 deliberately omitted. 



Madras, 

 October 24, 1918. 



Uloboridae. 



Uloborus (Latr.), 1806. 

 1. Uloborus geniculat us (Oliv.). 



This pretty grey and white spider is cosmopolitan in the 

 Tropics, according to Simon, who has recorded it from Ceylon. 

 McCook figured the web, cf. 'American Spiders' (i. figs. 

 56, 57, 163), and the cocoon is accurately described by Simon, 

 vol. i. page 213. The web is not laid horizontally, but 



Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 9. Vol. iv. 17 



