1898.] CTENirOBM SPIDEKS OF APBICA, ARABIA, AN 13 SYRIA. 19 



Phoneutria AtrEicuLAEis Karsch. 



Hah. W. Africa. 



It is impossible to say from the description what this ma}^ be. 



Phoneutria melanogastba Bosenb. 



S 11mm., $ 16 mm. Hah. E.Africa. Types in coll. Nat. Hist. 

 Mus. Hamburg, coll. Stuhlmann. — Jahrbuch der Hamb. Wiss. 

 Anstalt, xii. p. 12, Taf . i. 14-14 d. 



The figure given of the eyes is, I believe, dra^^"u from a point 

 more from above, and the second row thus appears more strongly 

 recurved ; whereas I should suspect (for I have not seen the type) 

 that a line passing through the centres of the centrals would at 

 most pass through the centres of the laterals, and in this case the 

 second row would be absolutely straight. A young female now 

 before me, taken in E. Africa at Likipia by Dr. Gregory, is very 

 closely allied to P. melanogastra, if not identical. Being immature, 

 however, one cannot pronounce on the point with any certainty. 



There appears to me to be no necessity for separating these 

 forms from the rest of the Ctenidce, other than in more or less well- 

 defined groups. 



Curiously enough, there is now also before me an adult female 

 with black ventral band precisely similar to that of P. melanogastra 

 and of the female from Likipia, with similar eye-formula, differing 

 only in the absence of a lateral spine on tib. i. and ii. and the 

 absence of spines on pat. i. and ii., from La Plata, Argentina, 

 taken by Mrs. Oldfield Thomas. 



The African and American forms resemble each other very 

 closely, with certain minute though constant differences, such as au 

 extra spine on the legs or an extra minute tooth on the fang-groove. 

 Those from the Indian Archipelago and Australia approximate to 

 a certain type only of those in Africa and America, of which 

 C. spenceri is a fair representative from the former, and C. alho- 

 fasciatus from the latter continent. 



So far as the material at hand allows one to judge, the large 

 Ctenoid forms represented by C. rddyi, C. andretcsi, and C. holi- 

 viensis in America, and C. vivid^is, G. kingsleyi, &c. in Africa, are 

 absent from India, Burmah, the Indian Archipelago, and Austral- 

 asia. But I am unable to satisfy myself, so far, that there is any 

 distinction sufficiently pronounced to justify one in giving to these 

 two different groups distinct generic names. 



An adult male from Umfuli, taken by Mr. G. A. Marshall, is 

 evidently very closely allied to P. melanogastra B., being apparently 

 precisely similar in markings. The figure given of the palpus in 

 •' ostafricanische Specimen " is scarcely sufficiently detailed to 

 enable one to decide with certainty on the point. Herr Bosenberg 

 has, however, with his usual generosity, furnished me with a 

 beautiful enlarged drawing of this important organ, and I am now 

 able to assert positively that P. melanogastra Bg. is quite distinct 

 from P. marslialli, n. sp. 



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