

Hab. in peninsula. Indica, in regione Arracanensi usque ad peninsulam Malaccensem, in insulis Andamanicis, 

 in insulis Sondaicis, et in insula Celebensi. 



Adult Male. Upper parts olive, of a more yellow shade on the back and scapulars ; crown dark brown with 

 olive edges to the feathers ; wings dark brown, the least and median series of coverts olive or broadly 

 edged with that colour ; greater series of coverts and the quills with broad olive-yellow margins to their 

 outer webs; tail brownish black, the feathers margined with olive and with white ends, broadest 

 towards the outer feathers ; sides of the head ashy brown with a space in front and beneath the eye 

 and a very slight eyebrow white ; a dark loral band ; chin and throat white ; breast, abdomen, and 

 under tail-coverts bright yellow; pectoral tufts deep chrome-yellow; under surface of the wings brown, 

 with the inner margins of the quills and the coverts white; the upper mandible black; the lower 

 mandible, as well as the legs and feet, leaden grey; irides dark brown. Total length 5-75 inches, 

 culmen 1*65, wing 2 - 8, tail 1*9, tarsus 07. 



Adult Female. Similar in plumage to the male, excepting that it does not possess the deep-yellow pectoral 

 tufts. Total length 55 inches, culmen 1*4, wing 255, tail 1-65, tarsus 065. 



Obs. Owing to the comparatively few specimens I have seen with the deep-yellow pectoral tufts, it would 

 appear that the latter are only assumed by the adult males during the breeding-season. 



Hab. Malabar coast and the Neilgherries ; Bengal, Tipperah, Chittagong, and Arracan hills ; Tenasserim 

 and southern portion of the Malay peninsula; the Andaman Islands and the islands of Sumatra, Java, 

 Borneo, and Celebes. 



The division of the Sun-birds to which I apply Jerdon's name of " Spider-hunters " may be con- 

 veniently divided into two genera, to be distinguished by the form of the culmen, viz. Arachno- 

 thera, with the culmen compressed into a somewhat sharp keel, and Arachnoraphis, with the 

 culmen flattened or rounded. 



These two genera are distinguished from all the other groups of Sun-birds by their more 

 robust structure, by their larger and more roughly formed bills, and by their stronger and 

 shorter tarsi. Besides these characters, they never possess the brilliant metallic colours usually 

 present in adult males of the other Sunbirds. 



I retain the Spider-hunters in the present family on account of their having the tongue 

 bifurcate and the nostrils placed in short oval depressions of the bill : they indicate, however, 

 the close affinities which exist between the Sun-birds and the brush-tongued Honey-suckers. 



In the case of the Spider-hunters we cannot depend upon the dimensions for specific 

 characters, as the measurements are extremely variable in individuals of the same species ; and in 

 some instances it would appear that the bill does not cease to grow after the bird has attained 

 its full plumage. The olive shades of colouring also appear to be liable to slight variations, 

 either depending upon age or the amount of exposure the parts have been subjected to. 



The Little Spider-hunter is a very well-known species ; and with a numerous series before 

 me I find a regular gradation from a larger to a smaller form, the latter of which has been 

 separated by Mr. Blyth as A. pusilla ; but it is certainly not a distinct species, nor even a local 

 race; for I have before me the two forms, both from the Malay peninsula and from Borneo. 



It is distinguished from the other members of this group by its having the throat white and 



