Blackwall — spiders captured in the Se>/chelles Islands. 15 



•white spots are placed transversely, immediately before the spinners, 

 -on the under side ; these points, streaks, and spots have a brilliant 

 silvery lustre. The cephalothorax is oval, moderately convex, glossy, 

 "with a slight indentation in the medial line of the posterior part, and 

 a pointed conical prominence in the cephalic region, which has a 

 process in front directed obliquely forwards and upwards, whose 

 ■obtuse extremity is provided with hairs ; it is of a red-brown colour, 

 the fine lateral margins and the summit of the cone being much the 

 darkest. The falces are conical, vertical, and armed with a few teeth 

 ■on the inner surface ; the maxillae are somewhat enlarged at the ex- 

 tremity, and slightly inclined towards the lip. These organs are of a 

 red-brown colour, the maxillee being rather the darker. The lip is 

 semicircular, and prominent at the apex, and the sternum is heart- 

 shaped, convex, and glossy. These parts have a brownish-black hue. 

 The eyes are seated on the cephalic. cone; the four intermediate ones 

 nearly form a square ; the two anterior ones, which are the largest of 

 the eight, are situated on the summit of the cone, in front, and the 

 two posterior ones a little below the summit ; the eyes of each lateral 

 pair are placed on a minute tubercle nearer to its base, and are con- 

 tiguous. The legs are slender, provided with short hairs, and have a 

 pale yellowish-brown hue ; the first pair is the longest, then the 

 second, and the third pair is the shortest. The palpi resemble the legs 

 in colour, with the exception of the digital joint, which has a dark- 

 brown hue, tinged with red ; the cubital is larger than the radial 

 joint, and the digital joint is oval, convex, and hairy externally, 

 concave within, compressing the palpal organs, which are highly 

 ileveloped, complex in structure, prominent at the extremity on the 

 outer side, and are of a red-brown colour. 



[This spider is exceedingly closely allied to ^r^yrorZes epeirce, Sim., 

 but may be distinguished without difBLcultyby the more projecting (or 

 less vertical) direction of the characteristic process in front of the upper 

 part of the caput. In general form, colours, and markings the two 

 species are remarkably similar ; and probably the economy of the Sey- 

 chelles species is the same as that of A. epeirce, since the spider {Cyr- 

 tophora [Epeird) opuntice, Duf.) in whose webs the latter is found 

 ■appears to be also found in the Seychelles Islands.] 



Pamily EPEIRID^. 



Genus Epeiea, Walclc. 



Epeera obsctjha, n. sp. [Epeira nocturna, Vins.] 



Length of the female, f of an inch-; length-of the cephalothorax, \; 

 breadth, J- ; breadth of the abdomen, ] . The first pair of legs is the 

 longest, then the second, and the third pair is tlie shortest ; but as 



