EEV. O. P. CAMBRIDGE OJS CEYLON SPIDERS. 383 



square ; the lateral pairs are placed slightly obliquely on tubercles ; 

 all, except those of the fore central pair (which are dark-coloured), are * 

 of a pearly white edged with red-brown. 



Legs moderately strong; relative length 1, 4, 2, 3; those of the fourth 

 and second pairs differ but very little in length : those of the first pair 

 are much the longest; all are furnished thickly and conspicuously with 

 long bristly hairs. 



Palpi short ; humeral joint bent ; cubital stout, nodiforra, prominent, 

 and rather angular on the upperside; one longish black flexuous 

 bristle issues from the angle, and another halfway between it and the 

 base of the joint ; radial joint short, produced in a roundish-spatula 

 form at the outer extremity, the produced part terminating with some 

 black flexuous bristles; digital joint large, longer than the radial and 

 cubital together, of pointed oval form, and hairy on the outer side. 

 Palpal organs well developed and rather complicated, consisting of 

 some whitish membranous lobes mixed with corneous spines and pro- 

 cesses of a deep red-brown colour. 



Falces strong, slightly longer than the height of the facial space, and a 

 little projecting forwards. 



Maxillce long and strong, projecting very slightly beyond the falces, 

 obliquely truncate on their outer extremities, and inclined towards 

 the labium, which is short, suboval, and a very little hollow at the 

 apex. 



Sternum heart-shaped and glossy. 



Abdomen nearly globular, mostly so in the female ; it is covered with 

 long, prominent, dark, bristly hairs, and is of a dull leadenish dusky 

 colour, with a series of alternate blackish and white irregular and 

 rather oblique transverse markings on either side of the medial line 

 of the upper part ; these markings leave a sort of ill-defined dentated 

 longitudinal central band, in some specimens edged with white ; 

 along the hinder part of this band, above the spinners, are several 

 roundish white spots running together (in some individuals) into a 

 broken line or band : this pattern, which bears considerable general 

 resemblance to that on the abdomen of Theridion nervosum (Walck.), 

 is almost obsolete in some specimens, and appears to be best defined 

 in the immature female : a broad, central, longitudinal, dark brown- 

 ish-black band, varying in intensity in different examples, and strongest 

 in the adult male, occupies the underside ; this band is edged on both 

 sides by a more or less distinct whitish line. 



An adult example of each sex was first captured by myself in a 

 dark closet at the Hotel d' Orient at Beirut in May 1865 ; but the 

 MS. description of it not having yet been published, it is now made 

 public for the first time, on the reception of three adult males and 

 fifteen adult and immature females from Ceylon in the collection 



