620 REV. O. P. CAMBRIDGE ON ARACHNIDA. [June 20> 



(Walck.), has a wide range ; I have received the female from Natal, 

 and the same sex in abundance also from Minas Geraes, Brazil, 

 where they were captured by Mr. Henry Rogers. Messrs. J. Nietner 

 and G. H. K. Thwaites have also sent me many examples from 

 Ceylon ; and among those received from Mr. Thwaites were the 

 only males I have yet seen. Dr. Collingwood's collection contained 

 numerous individuals captured at Labuan, but all females. It is 

 evidently aNephila, although the abdomen has not the long cylindric 

 form of the typical species ; the great dissimilarity in the size of 

 the male and female also connects it with all the Nephilce whose 

 males are yet known. 



Nephila chrysogaster ( 2 ), Walck. (Plate XLIX. figs. 3, 4.) 



Female adult, length 20 to 24 lines. Male adult (n. sp.), length 

 2 to 2| lines. 



This species belongs to Walckenaer's group Tuberculatce, cha- 

 racterized by two small pointed tubercles on the cephalothorax. The 

 male has never (as far as I am aware) been yet described ; its cepha- 

 lothorax, legs, falces, maxillae, labium, and sternum are of a brightish 

 orange-yellow colour, the tibiae, tarsi, and metatarsi of the legs 

 deepening into a dark brownish yellow, and the normal indentations 

 of the cephalothorax are marked with dusky yellow-brown. The ab- 

 domen is of a very cylindric-oval form, slightly tapering towards its 

 posterior extremity ; the upperside, where it is slightly paler in colour 

 than the cephalothorax, has a glossy corneous appearance, and is 

 marked with a longitudinal median tapering line or narrow band of 

 a brownish-yellow hue, on either side of which, towards the fore 

 part, are two dots of the same colour ; the sides are marked above 

 with a pale yellowish longitudinal band followed by a parallel brown 

 line, below which are some indications of oblique brown lines on a 

 pale yellowish ground ; the underside is pale yellowish irregularly 

 marked with brownish lines ; the hinder extremity of the abdomen 

 is strongly suffused with blackish. The legs are long, especially 

 those of the first pair, the extra length being in the metatarsi, 

 which, with the tarsi, are slender ; they are furnished with hairs and 

 (chiefly on the femora and tibiae) with longish but slender black 

 spines. The palpi are paler in colour than the legs, except the 

 digital points and palpal organs, which deepen into blackish brown ; 

 they are short, especially the radial and cubital joints, the former of 

 which is a little produced on the upper fore side ; the digital joiut 

 is large and comprises the palpal organs, which are large and pro- 

 minent ; they are corneous and of a nearly globular form, with a 

 prominence beneath near their hinder extremity ; and a long, rather 

 slender, sharp-pointed, tapering black spine issues from their fore 

 extremity, pointing downwards and slightly backwards ; this spine 

 equals, if it does not exceed, the whole length of the palpus, and 

 gives the palpal organs somewhat the look of a Snipe's skull and beak. 



Adults of both sexes of this Spider were received in 1868 from 

 Dr. Collingwood, who found them in abundance both at Labuan and 

 Manilla. Some time after, I also received both sexes from Mr. 



