18/2.] SPIDERS OF PALESTINE AND SYRIA. 237 



The genital opening is very small, of an oval form, with deep-blackish 

 red-brown margins, and placed near the centre of a somewhat heart- 

 shaped, slightly convex, reddish yellow-brown, glossy plate or scale. 

 An adult female was found under a stone on the plains of the 

 Jordan, and another (in 1864 J in a similar situation near Alex- 

 andria (Egypt) ; in this last example the surface of the abdomen 

 surrounding the dark stripe on its fore side was no freer from hairs 

 than the rest. 



Drassus invalidus, sp. nov. (Plate XV. fig. 14.) 



Male adult, length 2| lines. 



This species is very similar in form and general structure to D. 

 lapidicolens (Walck.), but differs in colour and markings, and espe- 

 cially in the structure of the palpi and palpal organs ; it is also nearly 

 allied to D. morosus (supra, p. 232). 



The cephalothorax is of a yellow-brown colour tinged with red- 

 brown before. The legs and palpi are yellow, the falces, maxillae, 

 labium, and sternum reddish yellow-brown ; the abdomen is dusky 

 whitish brown. The eyes (looked at from behind) are in two parallel 

 rows, rather more widely removed from each other than usual ; the 

 fore central eyes are further from each other than each is from the 

 lateral on its side ; the hind centrals are oval, oblique, and near to- 

 gether, but not contiguous, while at the same time they are much 

 further removed from the laterals of the same row than from each 

 other ; the eyes of each lateral pair are separated by a space equal 

 to that which separates each hind central eye from the lateral on its 

 side, or from the fore central opposite to it. The legs are moderate 

 in length and strength, their relative length 1, 4, 2, 3, and furnished 

 with hairs and a few spines on the tibiae and metatarsi of the third 

 and fourth pairs. The falces are strong, straight, and project a good 

 deal forwards. 



The palpi are rather slender, but moderate in length : the radial 

 and cubital joints are of about equal length ; the former has a 

 not very long, nor strong, rather tapering and pointed apophysis 

 at its fore extremity on the outer side ; the digital joint is rather 

 large and of an oval form ; the palpal organs are well developed, 

 having a strong and somewhat furcate, corneous, red-brown appear- 

 ance at their fore extremity ; the maxillae are strong, inclined to the 

 labium and enlarged and rounded at their extremities, but the trans- 

 verse impression is slight. The abdomen is oval, narrower behind 

 than before ; it is of a dusky hue, showing a series of paler angular 

 bars, or chevrons, on the hinder part, near the spinners. 



A single example was found under a stone on the plains of the 

 Jordan. 



Drassus nanus, sp. nov. (Plate XV. fig. 15.) 



Female adult, length lj-lf line. 



This small species has the cephalothorax yellow, tinged with 

 yellow-brown, and margined with a black line. The legs and palpi 

 are rather paler, except the four last joints of the first pair, which 



