Four new Arachnida, 223 



tlie margin, moreover, appears to be without tlie pectinations 

 which are so conspicuous in G. Chapmani. 



Total length 13 niillim. 



Loc. Spain : Bejar (T. A. Chapman). A single male 

 example. 



In addition to the structural features pointed out above, 

 tliis new species differs from the only other species of the 

 genus known up to the present time in being uniformly black 

 in colour. G. dorsalis, of which Mr. G. C. Champion has 

 collected female examples for the British Museum, in Spain, 

 has the head and mandibles j'ellow. 



3. A NEW Genus and Species of Trapdoor Spider 

 FROM Madagascar. 



Genus Forstthula, nov. 



Resembling the aberrant genus DiphtliehyO^ which I have 

 seen no examples, in the retention of only a single pair of 

 spinners and other characters. The principal differences be- 

 tween the two may be expressed as follows : — 



a. Thoracic fovea procurved. semilunar (.<ec. Simou) ; eyes 



of tlie anterior line, at least in the female, forming a 

 quadrangle much wider in front than behind, the 

 distance between the anterior meiliau eyes only half 

 as great as that between the anterior laterals; the 

 anterior laterals and posterior laterals forming the 

 angles of a parallel-sided quadi'ilateral Dipluthele, 



b. Thoracic fovea straight, transverse ; eyes of anterior 



line forming a four-sided figure which is almost a 

 square, being only slightly wider in front than behind; 

 the quadrilateral formed by the anterior and posterior 

 laterals nearly or quite twice as wide behind as in 

 front Forsytluda. 



The discovery of this new genus is a valuable addition to 

 our knowledge of Trapdoor Spiders, both from a systematic 

 and faunistic standpoint. Its nearest ally, Diplothehy which 

 hitherto held the unique distinction amongst the Bary- 

 chelidfc of being the only genus in which the spinning- 

 mammilljfi of the anterior pair have atrophied, contains two 

 known species — one described from Orissa in India *, the 

 other from Ceylon f. The discovery of the nearest ally of 

 this genus in ]\[adagascar is therefere interesting, especially 

 as no kindred form has yet been met with in Africa. Also 

 in view of the probable derivation of most of the fauna of 



* D. Wahhi, O. P.-Cambridge, P. Z. S. 1890, p. 621, pi. liii. figs. 1-1 h. 

 t D. Kahji, Simon, Hist. Nat. Araign. i. p. 12:3 (18iL'). 



16* 



