Regions of Lakes Nyasa and Tanganyika. 435 



Subspecies nyikce, nov. 

 Colour. Carapace black, with silvery pubescence ; maxillas 

 black ; labium black, with median longitudinal yellow line ; 

 sternum yellow, narrowly black at the sides; palpi with 

 femur, patella, and tibia yellow, lightly and imperfectly ringed 

 with black, tarsus black ; legs brownish black, with a yellow 

 ring round the distal end of the femora and tibite, these yellow 

 bands scarcely or not traceable on third leg : abdomen varying 

 in colour; the upperside usually furnished with four (five) 

 broad transverse yellow stripes, as in N. hragantina ; the 

 anterior of these is the broadest and extends inferiorly almost 

 as far as the epigastric fold, the others expand at their extre- 

 mities and sometimes become united, though more often 

 remaining distinct ; sometimes these bands break up into a 

 series of median and lateral yellow blotches ; the lower side 

 of the abdomen is dark, with a yellow x -shaped mark in the 

 middle of the area between the spinners and the epigastric 

 fold ; behind the fold there is a transverse yellow stripe, 

 from the ends of which a narrow yellow stripe sometimes 

 extends backwards. 



Tihice of legs, except of third pair, tufted, the tuft scanty 

 on the apical yellow band. 



Measurements in millimetres. — Total length up to 28 ; 

 length of carapace 9, of first leg 49, of second leg 40, of third 

 leg 20, of fourth leg 35 (all measured from base of femur). 

 Loc. Nyika plateau, 6000-7000 feet {A. Whyte). 

 Resembling the subspecies N. senegalensis hragantina, 

 Brito Capello, but recognizable by having the palpi mostly 

 yellow instead of mostly black, and by the presence of a 

 yellow ring round the end of the femora of the legs. 



Of the typical form of this species the British Museum 

 possesses examples from the Cape Verde Islands {F. Cam- 

 bridge) and from Jifa Uri, inland of Zeyla, Soraaliland 

 {R. M. Hawker). 



The only other subspecies represented in the British Museum 

 collection is the more southern form occurring in Natal, the 

 Transvaal, and Mashonaland, which I described as trans- 

 vaalica, and which is probably identical with annulata, 

 Thorell, but not with hymencea as ^I. Simon asserts. 



Genus Argiope, Aud. 



Argiope jiavipalpis (Lucas) . 



Epeirajtavipalpis, Lucas, io Thomsou's Arch. Ent. ii. p. 423 {=Pechueli, 

 Karsch). 



Loc. Kondowe, near Karonga, 2000 feet, N. Nyasa [A. 

 Whyte). 



