18/2.] SPIDERS OF PALESTINE AND SYRIA. 265 



Genus Lachesis (Savign.). 

 Lachesis perversa, Savign. Arachn. d'Egypte, pi. i. fig. 4. 



An adult female of this species was found under a stone on the 

 Lebanon near Ain-Ata. 



Lachesis meadii, sp. nov. (Plate XIII. fig. 4.) 



Male adult, length 2g lines ; female adult, 3 lines. 



Cephalothorax oval, with no lateral constriction forwards, where it 

 is bluff and rounded ; the normal grooves and indentations are obso- 

 lete, except a very faint one in the middle line of the thoracic region ; 

 the caput and thorax are confluent, rounded, and arched ; its colour 

 is a deep rich, almost chocolate-, red-brown ; its surface is destitute 

 of hairs, and has a somewhat coriaceous appearance. The clypeus 

 exceeds in height double the length of the space occupied by the two 

 central pairs of eyes. 



The eyes are in two strongly curved transverse and almost parallel 

 rows, of which the curves are directed backwards ; the front row is 

 the shortest and least curved. The eyes are small and do not differ 

 much in size ; those of the two central pairs form a quadrangular 

 figure whose fore side is the shortest ; the interval between the eyes 

 of each of these pairs is much less than that between each central 

 eye and the lateral of the same row nearest to it ; and the intervals 

 between those of each lateral pair are about equal to that between 

 those of the fore central pair. 



The legs are moderate in length and strength, and their colour is 

 orange-brown, the femora tinged with darker brown ; they are fur- 

 nished sparingly with fine hairs and dark spines ; each tarsus ends 

 with three claws, of which the two superior ones are strong, curved, 

 and pectinated, the inferior one small and much inflected at its base. 



The palpi are short, and similar in colour and armature to the 

 legs, except the radial joint, which is of a deep rich red-brown 

 colour, and the digital, which is of a dark yellow-brown ; the radial 

 is stronger than the cubital, and has its fore extremity on the upper- 

 side produced into a long, strong, curved, blunt-pointed apophysis, 

 which adheres closely to the side of the digital joint, the latter having 

 the appearance of being indented so as to receive the apophysis, which 

 curves downwards and rather backwards over the palpal organs ; the 

 digital joints are large, and their exterior sides are directed inwards 

 towards each other ; and besides the above-mentioned apophysis, the 

 radial joint appears to have another short obtuse one on its under- 

 side ; the palpal organs are highly developed and complex, with 

 various corneous lobes, spines, and processes, of a red-brown and 

 black colour. 



The falces are moderately long, strong, and conical, and a little 

 inclined backwards j they are similar in colour to the cephalothorax, 

 and are furnished with numerous bristly hairs near their inner ex- 

 tremities ; the fang is small, and its point has a somewhat backward 

 direction. The maxillae are strong and curved over the labium, 

 which they nearly enclose ; their colour is red-brown tipped with 



