80 Mr. J. Blackwah on recently discovered Spiders 



IX. — Descriptions of recently discovered Spiders collected in the 

 Cape de Verde Islands by John Gray, Esq. By John Black- 

 wall, F.L.S. 



Tribe Octonoculina. 



Family Lycosid^. 



Genus Lycosa, Latr. 



Lycosa helva. 



Length of the female f ths of an inch ; length of the cephalo- 

 thorax ^, breadth -^ ; breadth of the abdomen ^ ; length of 

 a posterior leg -g- ; length of a leg of the third pair -jV* 



The eyes, which are unequal in size, are disposed in front and 

 on the sides of the anterior part of the cephalothorax ; four, 

 much smaller than the rest, form a transverse row immediately 

 above the frontal margin, the two lateral ones being rather 

 smaller than the intermediate ones of the same row ; the other 

 four describe a trapezoid, the two anterior eyes, which are the 

 largest of the eight, forming its shortest side. The cephalo- 

 thorax is long, convex, clothed with short adpressed hairs, com- 

 pressed before, rounded in front and on the sides, which are 

 marked with furrows converging towards a narrow, dark-brown 

 indentation in the medial line of the posterior region ; it is of a 

 dull yellow colour, with a broad brown band, mingled with yel- 

 low, extending along each side, a short bi'own line directed 

 backwards from each eye of the posterior pair, and a small dark 

 brown streak on each angle of the fi-ontal margin. The falces 

 are powerful, conical, vertical, convex in front, and armed with 

 teeth on the inner surface ; and the lip is somewhat quadrate, 

 being rather broader at the base than at the apex. These organs 

 have a very dark-brown hue, the hp being the paler. The 

 maxillae are straight and enlarged and rounded at the extremity; 

 the sternum is oval, glossy, and thinly clothed with whitish 

 hairs. The legs are robust, provided with hairs and sessile spines, 

 and the metatarsi and tarsi have hair-like papillae distributed on 

 their inferior surface ; the fourth pair is the longest, then the 

 first, and the third pair is the shortest ; each tarsus is terminated 

 by three claws ; the two superior ones are curved and pectinated, 

 and the inferior one is merely rudimentary; the palpi have a 

 curved, pectinated claw at their extremity. These parts are of a 

 dull yellow colour. The abdomen is oviform, convex above, and 

 projects over the base of the cephalothorax; it is clothed with 

 short hairs, and is of a pale yellow-red colour ; at the anterior 

 extremity of the upper part there is a brown angular mark, 

 having its vertex directed downwards ; and an obscure band of 

 the same hue, which has a projecting point on each side, near 



