1907.] ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN SPIDERS. 81 T 



WTiter* agrees with Winge in i-elegating to the otherwise extinct 

 family of Amphictince. But while Eupleres leans more to the 

 Viverrine than to the Herpestine type, it appears to me that 

 Galidictis has on the whole more the characters of the Herpestinse. 

 But both genera combine the characters of both of the main 

 subdivisions of the Viverridse. This does not however mean that 

 the two are closely allied, and that one subfamily alone is neces- 

 saiy for the reception of both Exipleres and Galidictis. The 

 important difterences between them are too obvious to need 

 recapitulation here. Nevei-theless, Mivart is of opinion that " of 

 all other Yiverridse, Eupleres comes nearest to the genus Hemi- 

 galidia." Hitherto it has been impossible to say whether Gali- 

 dictis was or was not a specialised and modern type of Herpestid. 

 I think, however, that the facts brought forward in the present 

 pages are conclusive against the view that Galidictis is a further 

 development of either the Herpestine or Viverrine branch of the 

 Yiverridse. In the combination of characters which it shows 

 Galidictis would seem to be, like Eupleres and possibly Ci^ypto- 

 procta, an ancient type of Viverrid. Like those two other 

 Madagascar genera, Galidictis is an example of the retention of 

 archaic characters so much shown in the Mascarene fauna. 



November 26, 1907. 



G. A. BouLENGER, Esq., F.R.S., Vice-President, 

 in the Ohau'. 



The Secretary exhibited an oil-painting by Mr. W. "Walls, 

 R.S.A., of a young female Gorilla recently living in the Society's 

 Gardens. 



The following papers were read : — 



1. On some New and Little-known Araneidea. By the 

 Hev. 0. Pickakd-Cambridge, M.A., F.R.S., C.M.Z.S., 



&c. 



[Received November 27, 1907.] 

 (Plate L.) 



Eleven species of Araneidea are noted, or described and figured, 

 in the following paper : one from Lagos, Portugal ; three from 

 Cape Colony, S. Africa; one from Mashonaland, E. Africa; five 

 from the Canary Islands ; and one from Old Calabar. Of the 



* Zool. Jahrb., Abth. f. Syst. xiii. 



