1889.] REV. O. p. CAMBRIDGE ON NEW ARANEIDEA. 35 



this Society by Dr. Giinther (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 helow 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 

 lengtli, 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 Theridiidce 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 Idiojjs colletti, whicli 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 Beirut 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 Theraphosid^e. 

 Genus Pachylomerus, Auss. 

 Pachylomerus natalensis, sp. n. (Plate II. fig. 1.) 

 Adult female. Length 1 inch .5 lines, length of cephalothorax 6g 

 lines, breadth at the widest part 6 lines. 



Cephcdothorax a little longer than broad, the fore extremity wider 

 than the posterior, the widest part is across the middle. The caput 

 is large, rounded nnd convex above, the occiput sloping in a gradual 

 curve to 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 small and form a transverse oblong area, the 



3* 



