tlRQtfHABtf. — On the Spiders of New Zealand. 3? 



12 metres. Comprised within each cocoon are about 20-32 pale stone- 

 coloured unagglutinated eggs. In the first cocoon of a nidus examined on 

 the 14th June the young were little more than 1 mm. in length, and had 

 attained to some extent their normal tints ; the abdomen was a broadish 

 oval, convex, with only a slight longitudinal indentation on the fore-part, 

 the tail being represented by a small convex lobe ; in the second cocoon 

 the tints were not so dark, and the young in the third had only a slight 

 tinge on the abdomen ; fig. 10, pi. x., respresents a young translucent 

 spider from the fourth cocoon ; the fifth and sixth only contained eggs. 

 The female invariably rests in the centre of the web. 



Karaka, Auckland, A.T.U. 



Arachnura nigritia, var. n. 



Length of an adult female, 10 mm. 



The cephalothorax of this handsome variety is hyaloid, pale stone-colour, 

 tinged with olive-green, normal markings dark chocolate. The palpi and 

 legs have a reddish-chocolate hue, suffused and streaked with dark brown ; 

 at the articulation of the joints and apices of the tarsi there are bright 

 yellow annuli. The falces have a dark olive tint, and the maxilla and 

 labium a chocolate hue, margined with yellow. The fore-part of the 

 abdomen from the spinners, is finely mottled with pale and blackisb olive- 

 green ; the tubercular prominences and medial band are shaded with bright 

 orange and orange-red ; the wrinkled lateral margins are a bright velvety 

 brown ; the ventral surface has a black velvety appearance ; and the tail a 

 blackish olive-brown hue ; the close set wrinkles well defined. 



Apparently rare. Karaka, Auckland, A.T.U. 



Arachnura obtusa, sp. n. 



Length of a mature female, 6 mm. 



This species may be distinguished from A. longicauda not only by its 

 smaller size, but by the almost entire absence of the longitudinal cleft in the 

 abdomen, and the more vertical position of the tubercles, which are obtuse, 

 and of an orange-red colour with buff tips. The cephalothorax is of an 

 olive-tinged yellow colour, suffused with chocolate-brown, medial band same 

 hue. Legs and palpi yellowish-brown, suffused with chocolate and marked 

 with a few olivaceous streaks. The falces have the yellowish hue of the 

 legs, and the maxilla, and lip are chocolate, with olive-yellow margins. The 

 abdomen is of an olivaceous-brown colour mottled with a lighter tint ; the 

 medial band is brown margined with orange-red ; the tail is distinctly 

 wrinkled and has the same dark hue, its five small tubercles resemble the 

 anterior ones in colour. 



Karaka, A.T.U. 



Arachnura trilobata, sp. n. PL ix., fig. 3. 



Length of an adult female 9£ mm., and of an adult male 5 mm. 



