1889. ] REV. 0. P. CAMBRIDGE ON NEW ARANEIDEA. 35 
this Society by Dr. Giirther (P. Z.S. 1887, p. 40), from the Rev. 
Nendick Abraham, of Grahamstown, on what Dr. Giinther supposed 
to be the same species as that described from Uitenhage. Wishing, 
however, to be assured of this, I wrote to Mr. Abraham asking him 
to send me, if he could procure them, examples of the species to 
which his note referred. This Mr. A. has very kindly and promptly 
done, sending me several nests with the spiders belonging to them. 
Among these I have found two examples of Moggridgea dyeri, and 
two others of quite a different, though allied species, to which I 
have given below the name of M. abrahami after its very pains- 
taking discoverer. One of the spiders described here is remarkable, 
not only for its minuteness, being no more than half a line in 
length, but for the peculiar character of its cephalothorax, in which 
the ordinary indented lines showing the junction of the caput and 
thorax are replaced by two deep oblique converging fissures, necessi- 
tating, along with other characters, the formation of a new genus in 
the family Theridiide for its reception. This specimen has been in 
my possession for many years past, but had until lately been over- 
looked owing to its having been accidentally concealed among the 
hairs on one of the legs of a large spider received in 1864 from the 
Swan River. 
Other particulars respecting the spiders described below will be 
found appended to their scientific description. With that of one of 
them I have incorporated a long, but very interesting account of the 
nest of the spider Idiops colletti, which was sent to me from Burmah 
by General Collett, through the kindness of Mr. George King, of 
the Botanic Gardens, Calcutta. This is, so far as I know, the first 
detailed account of the nest of a spider of this group, though I had 
myself many years ago found one species of it near Beirit in a 
trapdoor nest, which was, however, unfortunately destroyed on the 
way home, before any note could be taken of its nature and pecu- 
liarities. 
Order ARANEIDEA. 
Family THERAPHOSID2. 
Genus PacuyLoMeErws, Auss. 
PacHYLOMERUS NATALENSIS, sp. n. (Plate II. fig. 1.) 
Adult female. Length 1 inch 5 lines, length of cephalothorax 63 
lines, breadth at the widest part 6 lines. 
Cephalothorax a little longer than broad, the fore extremity wider 
than the posterior, the widest part is across the middle. The caput 
is large, rounded and convex above, the occiput sloping in a gradual 
curve te the thoracic indentation, which is large, deep, semilunar, 
with the convexity of its curve directed backwards, and situated 
exactly one third of the length from the hinder extremity of the 
cephalothorax. The cephalothorax is smooth, glossy, and of a rich 
reddish chocolate-brown colour, rather paler at the hinder extremity 
and in the ocular region. 
The eyes are rather smal] and form a transverse oblong area, the 
3 
