THE GENUS TAPINOCYBA. 249 



The following are the generic characters : — 



Genus TAPINOCYBA (Simon), 1884. 

 Spiders small, all under i'8 mm., and all pale in colour. 



Cephalothorax oval, devoid of any lobe or elevation. In 

 profile the shape varies considerably both as to species and 

 individuals. It is, however, never very high. Clypeus always 

 lower than ocular area. In the males there is on each side of 

 the cephalothorax a deep post-ocular sulcus. The exact 

 shape of these varies both as to species, and a little as to 

 individuals. They always, however, begin behind the posterior 

 lateral eyes, and run obliquely backwards, and slightly out- 

 wards. The cephalothorax is always of a yellow brown 

 colour. 



Eyes, eight in number, and arranged in two rows. The 

 anterior row is always straight, the centrals in contact and 

 the smallest of the eight. They are separated from the laterals 

 by a space never much greater than their diameter. The 

 posterior row is always more or less procurved, the distance 

 between its component eyes varying in the different species. 

 Each lateral pair is placed obliquely on a very slight 

 prominence. The size of the eyes varies in the different 

 species, sometimes they are very large, sometimes only 

 medium. They are never small. Besides this natural 

 variation, the eyes of all spiders are apt to vary : first, 

 with the condition of the spider when caught ; second, with 

 the time it has been kept in spirit, A spider may be caught 

 immediately after its last moult, before its eyes have attained 

 their full dimensions. A spider kept for a long time in spirit 

 is liable to show absorption of the ocular pigment, and conse- 

 quent shrinking of the eyes. When the eyes shrink the inter- 

 ocular spaces of course appear larger. I am also inclined to 

 think that the eyes of any given species may vary in the 

 different individuals, and I frequently find among the series of 

 T. subitanea (Camb.), captured at the same time, and in the 

 same locality, marked differences, both in the size of the eyes 

 and the breadth of the interocular spaces. Thus the ingenious 



