1872.] SPIDERS OF PALESTINE AND SYRIA. 249 



it is joined to the cephalothorax by a short but distinct pedicle ; the 

 fore half is of a dull yellowish colour, tinged with red, the hinder part 

 black ; the whole is furnished with scaly hairs, reflecting green and 

 golden metallic tints. A broken transverse line or bar of white hairs 

 indicates the junction of the black and yellow portions ; the abdomen 

 is slightly constricted at this part, chiefly by a depression across the 

 upperside ; the underside is similar to the upper, except that the 

 black and yellow portions run into each other gradually. The genital 

 aperture is small and indistinct, but characteristic in form. The 

 maxillcB, labium, and sternum are similar in colour to the cephalo- 

 thorax. 



Examples of the female, both adult and immature, were found 

 under stones beneath the walls of Jerusalem, between the Damascus 

 and St. Stephen's gates. They were exceedingly active, and so very 

 similar tothenumerous ants inhabiting the same places, as to make their 

 capture very difficult ; the adult males (of which I saw several) 

 escaped, owing to this cause. In the search for this Spider I met with 

 the only molestation that occurred to me during the whole tour in 

 Palestine, — several natives appearing to think it a good opportunity 

 to stone me from the walls, obliging me to beat as quick and as 

 dignified a retreat as might be practicable under the circumstances. 



Micaria trifasciata, sp. nov. (Plate XVI. fig. 31.) 



Female adult, length 3 lines. 



This fine and distinctly marked species is of ordinary general form 

 and structure. The cephalothorax is of a deep chestnut-brown 

 colour, clothed thinly (chiefly on the sides and caput) with short 

 greyish-white hairs. The eyes are not so closely grouped as in most 

 of the Spiders of this genus : the hinder row is straight ; and its cen- 

 tral eyes are small, oval, very oblique, and separated by about double 

 the interval which separates each of them from the hind lateral on its 

 side ; the foremost row is much shorter than the hinder one, and is 

 a little curved, the curve directed forwards ; the eyes of this row ap- 

 pear to be larger than those of the hinder row, and the interval be- 

 tween those of its central pair is greater than that which separates 

 each from the fore lateral on its side ; this lateral eye and the central 

 of the same row on its side appeared indeed to be nearly, if not quite, 

 contiguous to each other ; the four central eyes form very nearly a 

 square, whose foremost side is the shortest. The legs are moderate in 

 length and strength, their relative length 4, 1, 2,3, and their colour 

 yellow-brown, with the femora and a portion of the femoral and tibial 

 joints of the two hinder pairs dark blackish brown, giving them a 

 somewhat annulate appearance ; the legs of the first and second pairs 

 are rather darker than the rest. The falces are rather small and 

 vertical, and, with the sternum (which is of an oval shape), similar 

 to the cephalothorax in colour. The abdomen is oblong-oval, and 

 black, with a broadish transverse band (somewhat emarginate on its 

 hinder edge) of white hairs on the fore margin ; another similar 

 transverse band (but broader and interrupted in the middle) crosses 

 the abdomen just before the central line ; this band fines off just at 



