620 REV. O. p. CAMBRIDGE ON [NoV. 18, 



2. The larger specimen in the Menagerie has as many as eight scutes 

 in the fifth transverse dorsal row, instead of six, which is the highest 

 number in all other specimens known. Except in trivial points the 

 three specimens otherwise agree with Fauvel's description. 



In the following enumeration, I designate by a the larger speci- 

 men in the Zoological Gardens, by h the smaller, by c the specimen 

 in the British Museum : — 



a. b. c. 



Number of teeth J-J i| \1 



Transverse rows of dorsal scutes 17 18 17 



Caudal whorls 33 37 37 



Specimen h is blackish above, speckled or vermiculated with 

 yellowish on the head and nape, and on the cross bands on the body, 

 limbs, and base of tail. Iris dark, bronzy, vermiculated with black. 

 Specimen a is nearly uniform black, with mere traces, here and there, 

 of light vermiculations. 



EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. 



Plate LL 



The smaller specimen (6) of Alligator sinensis in the Society's Gardens, 



from life, reduced about i. 



Plate LII. 

 Head and nape of the specimen (c) in the British Museum, about | of nat. size. 



3. On some new Species and two new Genera of Araneidea. 

 By the Rev. O. P. Cambridge, M.A., F.R.S., C.M.Z.S., &c. 



[Eeceived October 23, 1890.] 



(Plate LIII.) 



A small collection of Spiders placed in my hands by Mr. Frederick 

 Taylor, of Rainhill, Lancashire, most of them collected in South Africa 

 by the Rev. Nendick Abraham, contains examples of several species 

 of much interest. Four of them appear to me to be undescribed, and 

 on one I have ventured to found a new genus {Platyoides) in the family 

 Drassidae. Together with the above, Mr. Taylor sent me a Spider 

 from New Zealand, which is, I think, without much doubt, Migas 

 paradoxus, L. Koch. A trapdoor nest of this Spider accompanied the 

 specimen ; it was found attached to the roots of fern, i. e., I conclude, 

 to the base of the stem, among the loose soil around it. Spiders of the 

 Trapdoor group, as a rule, have the extremities of the falces on the 

 upper side armed with a group of strong spines or teeth ; these are 

 used in the excavation of the cylindrical holes in which the nests are 

 formed, and are well adapted, and probably necessary, for this work. 

 In the genus Migas, however, the falces are not so armed, and hence 

 the type, M. paradoxus, received its specific name from Dr. L. Koch. 

 The nest now figured is new to science, and its being formed in a 

 situation where excavation in the solid earth is not required somewhat 



