1871.] REV. O. P. CAMBRIDGE ON ARACHNIDA. 619 



line or band issues and traverses the side of the Spider (which is of 

 a dull brown colour) quite to the underside ; these lines have rather 

 a backward direction, and are connected by some short parallel 

 horizontal irregular lines of the same colour ; in many examples, 

 especially immature ones, the large long oval marking mentioned 

 above contains within it a much narrower one defined sometimes by 

 a dark black-brown dentated line on either side, sometimes by a light 

 yellowish-white one. In some instances the space within this interior 

 marking is darker than that outside it ; in other instances it is of 

 the same hue. The underside is dull brown, with six large spots or 

 blotches of yellow or orange (and in one or two examples almost red) ; 

 these blotches are arranged in two parallel longitudinal rows of three 

 each, the four anterior ones being very conspicuous, the other two 

 (near the spinners) not so conspicuous ; of the four anterior ones 

 the two nearest to the spiracles are much the largest. The epigyne 

 is corneous and of a deep rich brown-black colour ; it consists of a 

 long narrow transverse opening much constricted in the middle. 



The male is very small in comparison with the female : the legs 

 are long and strongish, except the tarsi and metatarsi, which are 

 slender ; they are armed with longish black spines, and are of a deep 

 brown-black colour, except near the base of the femoral joints, which 

 (together with the exinguinal joints) are of a reddish yellow. The 

 cephalothorax is of a bright reddish-yellow colour ; and the abdomen, 

 which is somewhat similar but of a yellower hue, is of a flattish oval 

 form, and has on the upperside a shining corneous case- or shield- 

 like appearance, but little marking is visible, except a largish sort of 

 brown cloud towards the hinder part. 



The palpi are of a dull orange-yellow colour, not very long, but 

 strong ; the cubital and radial joints are short ; the latter are rather 

 the stoutest, they have no marked projections at their extremities, 

 but are furnished with a few black bristles ; the digital joints are 

 large, and the palpal organs are also large and prominent and of a 

 very peculiar form, consisting of a nearly globular shining reddish 

 corneous lobe, on the surface of which are some darker sinuous lines ; 

 from the extremity of this lobe there projects a long, strong, some- 

 what corkscrew-shaped, nearly black, sharp-pointed corneous spine, 

 with a strongish prominence near its sharp point ; the length of this 

 corkscrew-spine almost equals (if it does not exceed) the length of 

 the whole palpus, and presents a very formidable appearance ; it is 

 probably intended for use in adhering to the female in the act of 

 copulation. In Neriene nigra (Bl.), the male of which has a smaller 

 but somewhat similar spine connected with its palpal organs, I once 

 found this portion so firmly fixed in the vulva (or epigyne) of the 

 female as to be incapable of extrication without fracture ; in several 

 instances the male of Nephila rivulata had lost the whole digital 

 joint and palpal organs attached ; and I have but little doubt that the 

 loss was occasioned by the impossibility of extrication without frac- 

 ture, from the female, owing to the firm fixing of this corkscrew- 

 appendage in the epigyne. 



This Spider, which is nearly allied to Epeira malalarensis 



