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



from Algeria, pretty certain now that the Spiders referred to 

 in the ahove synonyms are identical. Adult females were found on 

 low plants near Alexandria in April 1864. 



Theridion varians. 



Theridion varians, Koch, Die Arachn. xii. p. 134, pi. 428. 

 fig. 1056, 1057; Camb. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 280. 



Adult females, of the same species as that found near Jericho in 

 1865, were found on low plants near Alexandria, and are, I think, 

 quite correctly assigned to T. varians, Koch. 



Theridion spinitarsis, sp. n. (Dipcena, Thor. ?). 



Adult female, rather more than 1| line in length. 



This Spider is of ordinary form, but of a stronger build than usual. 

 The whole of the fore part is of a dull orange-yellow colour, the 

 caput having a longitudinal central black stripe running from the 

 eyes to the thoracic junction. The legs, whose relative length is 

 1, 2, 4, 3, are tolerably strong and moderately long ; they are similar 

 to the cephalothorax in colour, with the fore extremities of the tibiae 

 slightly marked with deep red-brown ; they are more hairy than 

 usual, the metatarsi being armed (particularly on their undersides) 

 with long fine spines. The other joints also had, it is probable, 

 originally been similarly furnished ; but if so most of them had lost 

 a great part of this armature by trituration. 



The abdomen is oval, abruptly rounded, in profile, at its hinder 

 extremity, and projects over the hinder slope of the cephalothorax ; 

 it is hairy, and of a yellow-brown colour thickly mottled with whitish- 

 yellow cretaceous spots ; the upperside has a broad longitudina 

 pale yellowish white dentated band running down the centre from 

 the fore margin to the spinners, getting slightly narrower as it leaves 

 the middle of the abdomen and goes backwards ; on either side of 

 the hinder extremity of this band there are some ill-defined dark red- 

 brown markings. The sides are Vandyked by some fine red-brown 

 lines, one of which crosses over the upperside near the middle, 

 and two others over the fore part ; the underside is of a dull 

 yellowish brown colour, with a large, somewhat quadrate, yellowish 

 white transverse band across the middle. 



A single example of this Spider was found on a low plant near 

 Cairo. In the absence of the adult male I hesitate to include it in 

 the genus Dipcena, Thor., to which it will very probably be eventually 

 found to belong. 



Theridion melanostictum, sp. n. 



Adult female, length 1 1 line. 



This pretty species is nearly allied to T. denticulatum. 



The abdomen is large and globular, and projects considerably over 

 the base of the cephalothorax ; it is of a yellowish colour, pretty 

 thickly mottled above and on the sides with white cretaceous spots, 

 and also marked with black spots and markings. In some examples 

 the upperside is likewise tinged with reddish brown, giving a kind 



