1879.] REV. O. p. CAMBRIDGE ON NEW ARANEIDEA. 279 



P.S. Since the above has been in print, Mr. Sclater has received 

 a further consignment of birds fro«n Mr. Brown. Amono-st tliese 

 are three specimens of MyzomclcE, namely :— a female of M. °sclateri ■ 

 one of an entirely red species, probably = Ramsay's M. coccinea or 

 enjthrina, the receipt of which will enable the necessary comparisons 

 of these species with M. cruentata to be made ; and one of a species 

 new to science. 



5. On some new and little known Species of Araneidea, 

 ■with Remarks on the Genus Gasteracantha. By the 

 Rev. O. P. Cambridge^ M.A., C.M.Z.S., &c. 



[Eeceiyed February 27, 1879.] 

 (Plates XXVI., XXVII.) 



The Spiders described in the present paper are chiefly of the genus 

 Gasteracantha, a genus well known and remarkable for the hard, 

 horny epidermis of the abdomen, which is also armed with two^ 

 four, or six prominent spines, varying in length, strength, and direc- 

 tion, and issuing from different points of the margin. The abdomen 

 is also marked on the upperside, and occasionally underneath, with 

 numerous symmetrically disposed cicatricose spots, varying a little 

 in number, size, form, and position. To these markings I have 

 given, in tl;e following descriptions, the name of sit/iUo, looking, as 

 they do, ycry like seals impressed upon the abdominal surface. 

 These siyUla probably indicate the points of attachment of mus- 

 cular fibres, and are often useful in the determination of the species. 



The number of Spiders of this genus, described by various authors, 

 up to the present time, is about 1/0; many, however, are already 

 ascertained, and many more will in time probably prove to be, 

 synonymous with others. At first sight it would seem to be an 

 easier matter to distinguish the species of Gasteracantha than those 

 of many other genera. They are for the most part of good size ; and 

 the corneous, spiny abdomen, varying very much in its relative pro- 

 portions and spines, furnishes characters so tangible that the species 

 have for the most part been distinguished by these characters alone. 

 No doubt these will always remain important characters, and in 

 many instances decisive ones ; but in some, at all events, the recep- 

 tion of a series of examples from the same locality leads me to 

 suspect that there is a very great, and hitherto not sufficiently 

 recognized, difference in the absolute as well as relative length, 

 strength, and direction of the abdominal spines in different indivi- 

 duals of the same species. Gasteracantha furmosa, Vins. {in/ru, 

 p. 285, PI. XXVI. fig. 1 1), is one instance of this ; and G. curvispina, 

 Guer., is probably another. Of this latter Spider (if I am right in 

 my determination of the species) I have received a considerable 

 series from the v/est coast of Africa ; but no two individuals pre- 

 serve exactly the same length, strength, or direction of the abdominal 



