766 MR. A. G. BUTLER ON [DeC. 19, 



p. 237); falces large, powerful, cylindrical, narrowing towards the 

 culm, where in the male there is a powerful curved spine ; three 

 strong acute teeth on each side ; movable claw long, acute, and 

 curved ; palpus of male rather long, with the bulb large, globular, 

 and shining, altogether quite normal in structure, hairy ; abdomen 

 oblong, rounded behind, truncated and obtusely humped in front, 

 the anterior portion being distinctly higher than the posterior, but 

 depressed transversely behind the anterior border, ventral surface 

 very slightly convex ; legs long, slender, very sparsely setose, their 

 relative length 1, 2, 4, 3. Entire length, cJ 6g millim., $ 11 

 millim. 



East coast of Madagascar. 



Phoroncidiid^. 

 Phoroncidia, Westwood. 



5. Phoroncidia aurata. (Plate LVII. figs. 4, 4 a.) 

 Phoroncidia aurata, Cambridge, Ann, & Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 4, 



vol. xix. p. 31, pi. vii. fig. 9 (1877). 



Four examples of this rare and extremely beautiful species were 

 obtained in the Betsileo country by Mr. Cowan. Two of these are 

 typical, the abdomen being of a fiery golden colour, with black 

 spines upon red bases ; the two others are considerably larger, and 

 the abdomen is of a metallic silver colour, the spines black with red- 

 brown bases, and the ocellations black. This form I propose to 

 indicate as var. argentata (fig. 4 b). 



GaSTERACANTHIDjE. 



Gasteracantha, Simon. 



6. Gasteracantha cowani, sp. n. (Plate LVII. figs. 5, 5 a.) 

 This species will fall into the subgenus Isacantha, and comes 



nearer to a much larger (apparently undescribed) species, a dried 

 example of which we possess from Ceylon, than to any thing else 

 that I have seen. 



(S . Cephalotborax, palpi, and legs blackish piceous ; tarsi banded 

 with horn-yellow ; maxillse, labium, sternum, and abdomen black ; 

 abdomen above shining blackish, the anterior border narrowly sordid 

 yellow, a central longitudinal interupted line commencing in an 

 elongated pentagonal spot in the middle of the anterior border pale 

 ochreous. 



Cephalotborax quadrate, tumid on each side behind the caput, 

 with strongly defined central impressed line, abruptly shelving at 

 the back ; eyes arranged much as usual, the central pairs forming a 

 nearly equilateral quadrangle, the posterior pair slightly larger, and 

 therefore apparently wider apart than the anterior pair ; lateral eyes 

 small, and forming the apices of the anterior angles of the caput, 

 which ascend obliquely in the form of depressed cones from the 

 sutural depression between the caput and the tumid thoracic region ; 



