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



in a note that the Epeira lucina of Savigny is no other than the 

 Singa hamata, C. Koch {Epe'ira tubulosa, Blackw., &c). I think, 

 however, that this is not so. In the figure given by Savigny a very 

 constant specific character is delineated in the pale markings on the 

 two dark longitudinal bands on the abdomen : in S. hamata these are 

 represented by markings which always completely divide the dark 

 bands in a transverse direction, while in S. lucina these markings 

 are always confined within the band as shown in Savigny' s figure, 

 and as observed constantly in the examples found in Egypt, and also 

 in many more found in Palestine. I do not at all doubt the occur- 

 rence in Egypt of S. hamata, C. K., though I did not myself meet 

 with it either there or in Palestine ; but, for the above reasons, inde- 

 pendently of its larger size, I feel sure that it is not the same as 

 E. lucina, Sav. 



Gen. Argiope, Sav. 

 Argiope aurelia. 



Argiope aurelia, Sav. Egypte, pi. ii. tig. 5. 



Adult females of this fine Spider were found, not unfrequently, in 

 the gardens and orange-groves at Shoubra and other places near 

 Cairo, sitting in the midst of their large orbicular snares. 



Argiope sticticalis, sp. n. 



It is with some hesitation that I give here as a new species some 

 immature Spiders swept up among low herbage near x\lexandria. It 

 is possible that they are but the immature form of A. aurelia. In 

 these young examples the abdomen is of a less flattened form than 

 in that species, and is destitute of the transverse banding so distinct 

 in the adult (and nearly adult) forms of A. aurelia, the uniform 

 covering of minute cretaceous white points being only broken by a 

 dull longitudinal branching line and here and there a blackish 

 marking. The legs also, instead of being, as in A. aurelia, very 

 distinctly annulated with black, are simply black-speckled, chiefly on 

 the femora, and especially on those of the first pair. 



Gen. Cyrtophora, Sim. 



CYRTOPHORA OPUNTI.E. 



Cyrtophora opuntice, Duf. An. Sc. Phys. torn. iv. pi. 69. fig. 3. 

 This Spider is abundant on the prickly pear, sont acacia, young 

 date-palms, and other low trees and shrubs, near and above Cairo. 



Gen. Epeira, Walck. 

 Epeira chloris. 



Epeira chloris, Sav. et Aud. Egypte, pi. hi. fig. 5. 

 Adults of both sexes were found not unfrequently on low plants 

 in Upper Egypt*. 



* The Spicier described as an Argiope {Argiope epeiroides) in Spid. Palest. & 

 Syr., P. Z. S. 1872, p. 301, but which is certainly nut an Argiope, is very nearly 

 allied to Epeira chloris, Savigny ; it is, however, larger, of an even more elongated 

 form, and differs in the pattern on the abdomen, as well as in the structure of 

 the palpal organs. 



