COLLECTED IN DUTCH NEW GUINEA, 451 



above-named gentlemen as Doleschall's Araneus {Epeira) caput-ltipi, although the 

 illustration given by the latter does not agree so well with them, as is usually the case 

 with his beautifully finished drawings. 



In some specimens the shield on the back is of a deep chocolate-colour bordered by 

 a thin yellow line, and pale red on the shoulder-humps, the portion in front of the 

 shield being quite dark. In others about the same colour the thin bordering line is 

 absent. In others, again, the whole of the back is pale yellow-brown, but in all the 

 form of the epigyne is similar and very distinctive — the spinous bristles on the back 

 and legs on round tubercle-roots, the white spines on the legs, the pair of large dark 

 bare muscle-spots on the shield, and other points are exactly similar. I make the 

 measurements of the largest (in millimetres) as follows : — 



Long. Broad. 



, in front, 

 7 



Abdomen 14 12 



Mandibles 4 — 



Cephalothorax 9 < ^ 



Trochanter Patella Metatarsus 



Coxa. & femur. & tibia. & tarsus. ■ 



Legs 1. 2i 8 9 8^ = 28 



2. 2i 7 9 T"? = 26 



3. 2 6 6 5 = 19 



4. 21 8 9 8^ = 28 

 Palpi 1 4 U 3 ^ 111 



Dr. Thorell makes the cephalothorax shorter than patella -\- tibia iv,, but I find 

 it the same length (in some of the specimens, however, this does not seem to be the 

 case), and the fourth pair are as long as the first, while he makes them in some 

 cases even longer. 



Araneus theis, var. teiangulifeea. 



Epeira theis Walckenaer, Ins., Apt. ii. 1841, p. 53. 



Epeira mangareva Walckenaer, ibid, iv, 1847, p. 469, 



Epeira theisii Thorell, Ragni di Selebes, 1877, p. 50. 



Epeira triangulifera Thorell, Ragni di Amboina, 1878, p. 65. 



Epeira theisii, var. triangulifera Thorell, Rag. Aust.-Mal. 1881, p. 115. 



Nineteen females and one male. 



It has generally been held that Epeira theis Walck. and Epeira mangareva Walck, 

 are at most varieties of the same species. Dr, Thorell attempts a differentiation on 

 slight variations in both the male and female sexual organs. These, however, do not 

 seem to hold good even in his own description, and seeing that the species have been 

 recorded (originally from Guam) from Singapore, New Guinea and adjacent islands, the 

 eastern parts of Australia, and most of the Pacific islands, it is hardly to be wondered 



3s2 



