82 Mr. R. T. Pocock 071 the Oenus Poecilotheria. 



confined to the Transvaal, wliicli is, however, decidedly 

 iinjnobable. I brought lioine two si)cciniciis with me in 1896, 

 and during a visit to tjie Pretoria Museum last October 1 

 was able to insj)ect a fair scries of both sexes. 



Tihicen sir ins, sp. n. 



Head and thorax chocolate-brown. Head with the central 

 area to face, anterior margin, apex of front, and area of the 

 ocelli black. Pronotum with two blackish, narrow, central, 

 contiguous fascia3, widened anteriorly and posteriorly. Meso- 

 notum with four obconical black spots, the central two 

 smallest, the lateral ones very long ; central area of cruciform 

 elevation black. Abdomen rufous-brown, the segments more 

 or less transversely streaked with piceous, and with a distinct 

 series of linear black spots on each lateral margin. Head 

 beneath and sternum j^alely tomentose ; legs chocolate-brown, 

 streaked with piceous; tarsi piceous, posterior femora and 

 tarsi ochraceous ; opercula dull ochraceous ; abdomen beneath 

 rufous-brown, with a faint central, longitudinal, macular, 

 piceous fascia. 



Tegmina and wings pale hyaline, both with a very distinct 

 basal ochraceous patch ; venation fuscous ; wings with a 

 small fuscous spot at apex of radial area, posterior margin of 

 abdominal area also very distinctly fuscous. 



Long. excl. tegm., cJ, 17 millim. ; exp. tegm. 47 millim. 



Ilah. Transvaal, Lydenburg District (Pret. Miis. and Coll. 

 DisL). 



This species is superficially to be recognized by the basal 

 ochraceous areas to the tegmina and wings. The rostrum 

 reaches the intermediate coxa; ; the anterior femora are 

 provided with two long acute spines. 



XII. — The Genus Pcecilotheria : its Habits, History^ and 

 Species. By E. I. PocoCK, of the British Museum of 

 Natural History. 



[Plate VII.] 



Part 1. — Observations on the Habits and History 

 of the Genus. 



The genus Vwcilotheria is a representative of that great and 

 almsot cosmopolitan group of spiders which was formerly 

 included under the comprehensive title Myyalc — a term which 

 is still to be found in many recent text-books of zoology and 



