A NEW SPIDER OF THE GENU'S LIPIIISTIUS. 76U 



i\7. A new Spider of the Genus Liphisl'ms from the Malay 

 Peninsiila, and some Observations on its Habits. By 

 H. C. Abraham, F.Z.S., F.L.S. * . 



[Received May 25, 1023 : Read October 23, 1923.] 

 (Plate I. ; Text-figure 1.) 



I ha\^e recently received, through the courtesy of Mr. F. de In 

 Miire Norris, of the Department of Agriculture, Federated Malay 

 States, a s[)eciinen* of the female of a large species of I^iphistius. 

 together vidth the trap-door and portion of the silk lining of its 

 burrow, photos of the l)urro\y in sitri, and notes of a number of. 

 observations on the habits of the spider. 



In the preamble of a former paper t I mentioned having seen 

 a photo of the present species, aiul, at that time, I was under the 

 inipi-ession that it would turn out to be L. hirviaihicus Simon, but 

 since I have had the opportunity of examining the spider itself 1 

 ha.ve, rather reluctantlj^ come to the conclusion that it must be 

 leferred to a new species which appears, however, to be very 

 (closely related to the above-mentioned. 



Tvly I'ensons for this are, briefly, as follows : — 



(a) In hirmanicus the legs of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd pairs are 

 snbequal, the difi'erence in length (coxa^ excluded) betAveen legs i 

 and iii being only 1 mm., with a difference of 0*25 mm. between 

 i and ii ; whilst in the species described below the difference 

 between i and iii is 4-8 mm., wliilst that between legs i and ii is 

 0'7 mm. 



{[)) In birmaiiicus the 4th leg is rather less than 3 times as 

 long as the cephalothorax, in mj^ specimen it is nearly 3-5 times 

 as long. Similarly, the 1st leg is nearly 2-25 times as long as the 

 cephalothorax, instead of slightly over twice, which is the case in 

 birmanicv.s. 



(c) The palp (?) is nearly twice as long as the ceplialotliorax 

 instead of being a little more than 1-5 times as long. 



(d) The superior cla,ws of the legs have 2-3 teeth instead of 

 3-4 ; also the inferior claws of tlie legs and the palpal claws 

 have 1-2 very small teeth instead of 2-3 small ones. 



In other words the legs and palpi are much longer in pro- 

 portion to the size of the cephalothorax than is the case in 

 L. birmanicus, and furthermore there is a greater diversity in the 

 lengths of the legs, especially noticeable in those of 1st, 2nd, and 

 3rd pairs. 



* UnCortunntcly in a soniewbnt damaged condition. 



t " A New Spider of llio Gcuus Liphislins," Jouni. Malayan J'raMcli, Royal 

 Asiatic Soc. i. p. 13 (1923). 



