568 REV. O. P. CAMBRIDGE ON EGYPTIAN SPIDERS. [June 20, 



Gen. Lithyph antes, Thor. 



LlTHYPHANTES HAMATUS. 



Phrurolithus hamatus, Koch, Die Arachn. v. p. 105, pi. 206. 



fig. 507-8. 



Lathrodeclus hamatus, Cambr. P. Z.S. 1872, p. 288. 



Adult females were found under stones near Alexandria in April 

 18G4. It is an exceedingly variable species in respect to its mark- 

 ings : two of those met with had an entirely black abdomen ; and 

 the rest varied considerably in the extent and colour of the normal 

 pattern ; most probably the Phr. lunatus and Phr. erythrocephalus 

 (Koch), I. c. fig. 509, 510, as well as Latrodectus venator, Sav. 

 Egypte, pi. 3. fig. 1 1, and Latrodectus ornatus, Luc, Explor. in 

 Alger, p. 233, pi. 14. fig. 8, are varieties of this species. 



The chief, if not the only, difference between Latrodectus and 

 Lithyphantes consists in the wide separation of the eyes of the 

 lateral pairs of the former, whereas in the latter they are contiguous 

 or nearly so. 



Gen. Steatoda (Sund.). 



Steatoda signata, sp. n. 



Length of an adult female, \\ line. 



This Spider is of ordinary form and general characters ; the cepha- 

 lothorax, falces, maxillae, labium, and sternum are of an orange- 

 yellow colour tinged with brown ; the legs, whose relative length 

 appeared to be 1, 4, 2, 3, are rather short and slender; they are of 

 a dull pale yellowish colour, furnished with hairs only, and the 

 femora, especially of the first and second pairs, are strongly suffused 

 with a dusky brown hue. 



The abdomen is short, oval, very convex above, though rather flat 

 on the upperside, abruptly rounded behind, and projects considerably 

 over the base of the cephalothorax ; it is glossy, and clothed thinly 

 with fine pale hairs ; its colour is a uniform kind of maroon or 

 purplish red-brown, marked on the upperside with some elongate 

 pointed oval pale dull yellowish markings, more or less covered with 

 cretaceous white spots ; three of these markings are situate on each 

 side of the upper part, at equal intervals from the fore to the hinder 

 extremity, the rest form a broken longitudinal central line on the 

 hinder half. The four foremost of these markings form a large 

 square whose fore side is a little shorter than the rest. 



A single example of the female of this species, which at first sight 

 very nearly resembles Asagena serratipes in the colour and markings 

 of the abdomen, was found under a large stone at Alexandria. 



Steatoda? mandibulars. 



Theridion mandibulare, Luc. Explor. en Algerie, p. 2C0, pi. 1 7. fig. I . 

 Pachygnathal mandibularis, Cambr. Spid. Palest, and Syria, 

 P. Z. S. 1872, p. 294. 



Steatoda mandibulare, Sim. Bull. Soc. Ent. Fr. 1875, p. 222. 



Epeira diversa, Bl. Ann. & Mag. N. II. Oct. 1859. 



Adult males of this remarkable Spider were found running on the 



