ARANEIDEA. 13 



spines, the latter almost entirely on the tibiae and metatarsi of the third and fourth pairs ; 

 the hairs are mostly of a grey pubescent kind. Each tarsus terminates with two curved, 

 pectinated claws, beneath which is a claw-tuft, and the undersides of the tarsi, as well as a 

 portion of the metatarsi, are furnished with a scopula. 



The palpi are short; their colour is yellow, deepening to dark red-brown on the digital 

 joint, which is double the length of the radial ; it is furnished thickly with dark hairs and 

 some black spines, and terminates with a short slightly curved black claw. The cubital is 

 similar tt> the radial joint in length. 



The falces are strong and rather long; their direction is forward, and their profile 

 arched ; they are of a deep, black red-brown colour, and are clothed pretty thickly with a 

 oreyish pubescence, besides other hairs and bristles. 



The maxilla; are long and strong (especially at the insertion of the palpi), curved and 

 inclined considerably towards the labium, obliquely impressed across the middle, rounded at 

 their outer extremity, and obliquely truncated on their inner extremity : their colour is 

 slightly less dark than that of the cephalothorax, and they are tipped with whitish yellow. 



The labium is long, reaching almost to the inner extremity of the maxillcs ; it is of an 

 oblong form, rounded at the apex, depressed along the sides, and its colour is like that of the 



The sternum is heart-shaped, similar in colour to the hinder part of the cephalothorax, 

 and clothed with hairs. 



The abdomen is of an oblong-oval form, of a yellowish-clay colour, and thinly clothed 

 with brownish hairs ; the spinners are short but strong, and of a yellow-brown colour, those 

 of the superior pair being a little shorter than those of the inferior; the genital aperture and 

 the process connected with it are of peculiar and characteristic form, and of a deep blackish 

 red- brown hue. 



The male differs in no respect of colour, general form, and character from the female. 

 The palpi of the male are rather short, but strong ; the humeral joint is much bent and 

 flattened on its inner side, where it curves round the falces, enlarging also to the anterior 

 extremity ; the cubital joint is short, strong, tumid on the upper side, and has, at its outer 

 extremity, a long, curved, pointed, red-brown apophysis, the point being recurved or sinuous ; 

 this apophysis reaches as far as the fore-extremity of the radial joint, which is shorter, darker 

 coloured, and less strong than the cubital, and is furnished with two nearly black apophyses; 

 one on the outer side is strong, curved, and has its obtuse point directed upwards ; the other 

 is shorter, straighter, more pointed, and placed near the middle of the fore-extremity, to which 

 it is nearly perpendicular ; the digital joint is large, of an oval form, dark red-brown in 

 colour, hairy, and in length exceeds the radial and cubital joints taken together; the 

 palpal organs are simple but well developed, consisting of a strong, somewhat cylindric, 

 corneous lobe, the fore-extremity of which is broken into several not very prominent pro- 

 cesses. 



Hab. Kashghar, December 1873 ; Yarkand, 21st to 27th May 1874; between Yangihis- 

 sar and Sirikol, March 1874 ; neighbourhood of Leh, August or September 1873 ; Yarkand 

 to Bursi, between May 28th and June 17th, 1874. 



I have had some hesitation in describing this spider as a Drassus. It appears to be 

 nearly allied to Hypsinotus, L. Koch, but the length of the labium distinguishes it readily 

 from that genus; for the present, therefore, I include it in the genus Drassus, with which, 

 at any rate, it is very nearly allied. 



