16 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



these limbs were mutilated, their absolute length could not be deter- 

 mined with accuracy. 



The cephalothorax is compressed before, rounded in front and on 

 the sides, convex, depressed at the base, with an indentation on the 

 medial line of the posterior region ; it is thinly clothed with short 

 whitish hairs, and is of a reddish-yellow colour. The eyes are dis- 

 posed on the anterior part of the cephalothorax in two transverse 

 rows ; the four intermediate ones are seated on a prominence, and 

 nearly form a square, the two anterior ones, which are wider apart 

 than the posterior ones, being the largest of the eight ; the eyes of 

 each lateral pair are placed obliquely on a tubercle, and are near to 

 each other, but not in contact. The falces are powerful, conical, 

 vertical, and armed with teeth on the inner surface ; the maxillae are- 

 short, straight, and enlarged and rounded at the extremity. These 

 organs are of a dull-yellowish hue, tinged with soot-colour on the 

 inner surface. The lip, which is semicircular, is of a reddish-brown 

 colour at the base, that of the margin and apex being yellow. The 

 sternum is heart-shaped, with small eminences on the sides, opposite 

 to the legs ; it has a brownish-yellow hue, the medial line being the 

 palest. The legs are provided with hairs, and have a brownish-yellow 

 hue, with reddish-brown annuli. The palpi resemble the legs in 

 colour, and are terminated by a curved, pectinated claw. The abdo- 

 men is broad, triangular, somewhat depressed, and projects over the 

 base of the cephalothorax ; it is sparingly supplied with short white 

 bail's, and has on the upper part a large, dentated, dark-brown mark,, 

 that tapers to the sphiners ; it is obscurely mottled with dull yellow, 

 and is barred transversely Avith dark brown above the coccyx ; the 

 anterior part comprises a dark-brown band that extends more than a 

 third of its length, and is triangular at its anterior, and obtuse at its 

 posterior extremity ; brown lines pass obliquely from the lateral 

 margins of the dark -brown mark to the upper part of the sides, which,^ 

 with the under part, are of a brownish-yellow hue, streaked and 

 freckled with brown ; the middle of the under part is brown, tinged 

 with dull-yellow in the medial line, and has a pale-yellow line on 

 each side, which is enlarged and curved inwards at its posterior 

 extremity. The sexual organs are well developed, of a red-brown 

 colour, and project from their anterior margin a pointed, prominent 

 process, directed backwards, which is somewhat depressed and hol- 

 lowed on the upper side at its extremity. 



[This spider, Epeira ohscura, is, without doubt, the E. nocturna,. 

 Yinson. (Araneides deslles de la Eeunion, &c., PL 4, fig. 3).] 



EpErRA MoKEin. 



Epeira Morelii, Vinson, Araneides des lies de la Reunion, Maurice 

 et Madagascar, ^. \QQ, ^\,i\.,^^.i\. " °" 



Length of the female, -f^ of an inch; length of the cephalo- 

 thorax, i; breadth, ^V; breadth of the abdomen, -\; length of an 

 anterior leg, -i- ; length of a leg of the third pair, ^. 



