274 IlEV. O. p. CAMBRIDGE ON NEW SPIDEES. 



received one from Sydney, N. S. W., kindly sent me by Mr. H. 

 Burton Bradley, from whom I have also received some other very 

 interesting and as yet undescribed species of other genera. 



Independently of the singular form of the abdomen, this Spider 

 possesses characters so peculiar that it seemed necessary to found 

 a new genus for its reception. Erom the disposition of its eyes it 

 bears great resemblance to the Epeirides ; but the laterally ex- 

 tended legs, and their relative length, link it more decidedly to 

 the Thomisides, of which family, however, its maxillae and labium 

 and other generic characters separate it from all the hitherto 

 characterized genera. Dr. Ludwig Koch, of Niirnberg, has de- 

 scribed a Spider *, perhaps of this genus (but I think certainly of a 

 different species), as belonging to the family Epeirides, genus 

 Gyrtogaster (Keyserling) ; but upon referring to Keyserling'sf de- 

 scription and characters of the genus Cyrtogaster, I feel but little 

 doubt that it is a wholly different one from that here described. 



Keyserling' s Spider is evidently of the family Epeirides, and 

 closely allied to Acrosoma (Perty). Since writing the above, I 

 have heard from Mr. H. B. Bradley that Thlaosoma dulia spins 

 no web, but lives beneath folded leaves. This habit entirely bears 

 me out in excluding it from the family Epeirides ; and the absence 

 of web is another point in common with spiders of the family 

 Thomisides. 



Thlaosoma distinctum, n. sp. PI. IX. figs. 36-38. 



5 . Length 3j lines. 



This species, in general form, structure, and appearance, re- 

 sembles T. dubium, as also in the position of the eyes and relative 

 length of the legs ; but it is much smaller (i. e. if the specimen 

 from which this description is made was adult, which could not be 

 satisfactorily ascertained from the dry specimen). It differs from 

 T. dubium also in the tubercular prominences on the upper hind 

 corners of the abdomen being much longer and more pointed, and 

 in having a very distinct pattern on the upper, or forward, side of 

 the abdomen, formed by lines of pure white, longish, scaly hairs, 

 enclosing various irregularly triangular spaces of deep chocolate- 



* Cyrtogaster excavata (L. Koch), Beschreib. neuer Arachniden u. Myriap. 

 aus den Vcrliandlungen d. k. k. zoologiscli-botanischon Qcsellscliaft in Wicn 

 (Jalu-gang 18G7), besondors ubgodruckt. Vorgelogt in der Silzung vom 2. Jiinnor 

 18G7, p. 175. 



t Beschreib. neuer u. wenig bekannter Arten aus der Familie Orbitelre (Latr.), 

 oder Epeiridse (Sund.) (Sitzungsberichte der Isis zu Dresden, 18G3, p. 83). 



