220 REV. O. P. CAMBRIDGE ON THE [Feb. 20, 



The abdomen is of a glossy jet-black colour, marked on the upper- 

 side with three large brilliantly white spots ; one on each fore corner 

 or shoulder of the abdomen ; these are of a subtriangular form, with 

 the most pointed angles of each directed towards one another ; the 

 third spot is of a somewhat diamond-shape, with its fore angle trun- 

 cated, atid is seated just above the anus. The legs are pale yellow, 

 tbe tibiae being broadly annulated with deep brown-black ; the meta- 

 tarsi are almost wholly suffused with the same colour, while the tarsi 

 are of paler duller hue. When in a state of rest the legs of this and 

 otber species are spread out in a radiated form ; they do not differ 

 much in length ; those of the third pair appear to be the shortest, and 

 those of the first pair slightly the longest. Lucas gives the relative 

 length of the legs of those species known to him as 1, 4, 3, 2 ; but, 

 from the difficulty of accurate measurement, I have not been able to 

 verify this in regard to the present species. The palpi are black, 

 and have the digital joints and palpal bulb of large size ; the radial 

 is shorter than the cubital joint ; neither of them presents any thing 

 remarkable in its form ; the palpal organs are highly developed 

 and prominent, consisting of several projecting corneous processes, of 

 which the two largest and longest are directed backwards. The 

 spinners are eight in number, two very short, small, and supernu- 

 merary being situated in front of the six ordinary ones ; of these the 

 superior pair are the largest and longest, and are two-jointed, curving 

 upwards over the extremity of the abdomen ; between them is the 

 anus, which is large and seated on an oval prominence fringed with 

 divergent or somewhat radiating strongish pale hairs, which appeared 

 to be of a papilliform nature. 



In the female the cephalothorax is of a more oval form, as well as 

 less black and glossy ; the abdomen also differs in having seven or 

 eight smaller white spots on the upperside in addition to the three 

 large ones, between which the smaller ones are regularly grouped ; 

 four of them form a transverse curved row nearly across the middle 

 of the abdomen ; behind these are two more, and between them and 

 the hinder one of the large spots is another largish one, or two small 

 and confluent, forming with the rest a sector of a circle. Some 

 slight variation exists in different examples in this position of the 

 spots ; and the two large ones near the fore margin are sometimes 

 nearer together than the two corresponding spots on the abdomen 

 of the male. The legs of the female are all pale yellow, annulated 

 with black- brown ; the metatarsi of the fourth pair are furnished 

 with calamistra, but the male has no trace of them. 



Although nearly allied to (E. maculatus (Sim. Mem. Liege, 18/0), 

 of which the female only has been recorded, I think the present is a 

 distinct species ; it is not rare on the plains of the Jordan, where 

 alone it was met with. The males were usually very conspicuously 

 displayed with extended legs on the surface of stones and broken 

 pieces of rock ; they were very agile when disturbed. The females 

 were generally concealed beneath thin sheets of web spun over de- 

 pressions on the faces of the stones, leaving a sort of tubular-shaped 

 place of exit, through which, when disturbed, they rapidly endea- 



