458 ME. H. E. HOGG ON SPIDEES 



It is readily recognisable by the brilliant red spot at the base of its side-spines, or 

 horns, the remarkable thorn at the end of same, and the scape of the epigyne, and is 

 no doabt easily seen. 



GaSTERACANTHA ? LEPELLETIEEI. 



Gasteracantha lepeUetieri Guerin, Encycl. Method, vol. x. 1825, p. 763 ; id. Voyage de la 

 ' Coquille,' Zool. ii. 2, 1830, p. 52; Thorell, loc. cit. pp. 31 & 39, vol. ii. 1878, p. 14. 



Five females. 



In these the epigyne and side-horns resemble G. crepidopliora ; but the absence of 

 the red spots of the former and its own characteristic black markings, with a slightly 

 broader cephalothorax (which point, however, is not very evident), are held by 

 Thorell to be sufficient to justify Guerin's separate species. The only apparent 

 structural difference between the species seems to be that in the latter the spines are 

 stouter and the whole appearance more robust. Described from Amboina, Burn, and 

 Gilolo. This is clearly the same as that which Thorell considered to be G. lepeUetieri, 

 but in spirits the red spots are faintly visible, and I doubt if there is any difference 

 from G. crepidopliora Camb.*. 



Gasteracantha hepatica, ? var. n. 



Gasteracantha hepatica Koch, Die Arach. Aust. 1871, p. 8, pi. i. 



Five females. 



These specimens agree structurally, including the epigyne and proportion of the 

 legs, with L. Koch's description ; but the pattern on the back of the abdomen of 

 most of them includes a transverse black fillet between the spines of the upperside, 

 from the middle of which depends a straight streak ending in two arrow-shaped points. 

 They are also rather larger ; one specimen without the black markings is like the 

 original drawings. 



Gasteracantha t^niata. 

 Gasteracantha tmniata Walck. Ins., Apt. ii. 1841. 



Eight females. 



These show considerable variation in the length and stoutness of the spines, the 

 deeper or brighter orange and pale yellow of the light stripes, and the continued or 

 broken dark lines, but they are all undoubtedly the same. Described from New 

 Guinea and adjacent islands. 



* In the L. Koch Collection now in the British Muaeum (Nat. Hist.) there is a specimen marked 

 Gasteracantha lepeUetieri, which is quite different. The back is red, •without special markings ; the horns are 

 non-existent, and the side spines (much finer) stand up almost at right angles to the carapace. 



