158 Christmas Island. 



Order ARANE^. 

 Family DYSDERID^. 



5. Ariadna natalis, sp.n. 



Colour. — Carapace castaneous, becoming gradually blacker in the 

 cephalic region ; mandibles black ; legs and palpi clear reddish- 

 yellow, with the protarsi and tarsi of the first and second legs 

 and the tibia and tarsus of the palpi blackish; abdomen a pale 

 greyish- olive tint throughout. 



Carapace slightly longer than patella and tibia of first leg, 

 smooth, sparsely hairy ; eyes of posterior line straight when viewed 

 from above, slightly procui'ved from the front. 



Legs. — Femur of first armed apically with six spines, three of 

 which are longer and serially arranged on the inner (anterior) side ; 

 tibia armed below with seven to eight anterior and nine or ten 

 posterior spines, mostly long, but a few quite short ; protarsi 

 armed with eight pairs of strong spines, some long, some short ; 

 tibia of third with two median inferior, protarsus with two median 

 and two apical inferior spines. Patellse of legs unarmed; fourth 

 leg unarmed. 



Measurement (in millimetres). — Total length, 8*5; length of cara- 

 pace 4, of first and second leg about 8, of third 6, of fourth 7*5. 



''Above Flying Fish Cove; on the ground under decaying tree 

 trunks. In holes in limestone blocks, top of cliff, E^.E. Point, 

 about 600 feet." 



Recognizable from its nearest geographical allies, the Sumatran 

 A. snellemanii, Yan Hasselt ("Midden Sumatra, etc., Araneae," 

 1882, p. 37; see also Thorell, Ann. Mus. Geneva (2), 1889-90, 

 viii, p. 388), and from the Burmese A. monticola, Thorell (Ann. 

 Mus. Geneva (2), 1897, xvii, p. 190), in the following particulars : — 



a. Carapace and abdomen black, tibia of legs of first pair 

 armed with only 7-9 spines, six of which are arranged 

 in three inferior pairs. 

 a^. Protarsus of first with seven pairs, of second with five 



pairs of spines snellemanii, V. H. 



li^. Protarsus of first armed beneath with only four spines, 



arranged 1, 1, 2, of second with five, arranged 2, 1, 2 



beneath and 1 in front .... monticola, Thor. 



h. Carapace ferruginous, with blackish head; abdomen olive 



grey, with silky lustre ; tibia of first leg armed beneath 



with from fourteen to seventeen spines, biserially arranged ; 



protarsi of first and second with eight pairs of inferior 



spines natalis, sp.n. 



