

keel and towards the base of the lower mandible; irides dark brown. Total length 8 inches, culmen 2-4, 

 wing 3'4, tail 2 - 3, tarsus 0'75. 



Adult Female. Similar in plumage to the male, only without the pectoral tufts. Total length 7*3 inches, 

 culmen 2'3, wing 3'0, tail 24, tarsus 0'7. 



Hab. Malacca, Sumatra, Java, and Borneo. 



The Robust Spider-hunter is one of the largest species of this family, and belongs to that division 

 to which I apply Reichenbach's generic title Arachnor aphis. This genus I characterize by the 

 culmen between the nostrils being rounded instead of compressed into a sharp angular ridge. 



The present species is distinguished from A. Jlavigastra by not having any yellow feathers 

 on the sides of the head, and from A. crassirostris by its larger size, and by the less-yellow 

 shade to the margins of the wing-feathers. The great length of the bill is also a well-marked 

 character. 



In a letter to me, Messrs. Hume and Davison write : — " We forgot to mention that A. robusta 

 is found on the Malay peninsula. We have a specimen with bright orange-yellow pectoral tufts, 

 corresponding well with Miiller and Schlegel's figure of that species, excepting that our bird has 

 the bill slightly longer, and not quite so curved. Length in the flesh 9 inches, bill from forehead 

 straight to point 2 - 4, wing 3 - 6, tail 2-7. The head is rather more uniformly coloured than in the 

 plate referred to. It was shot within a few miles of Malacca." 



Miiller and Schlegel, as well as Mr. Blyth, record this species from Sumatra. The former 

 mention a specimen from Indrapore, a village on the west coast of that island. From the same 

 locality they obtained two specimens of their A. armata, and a third from Java, in the north- 

 western portion of the Pangeranga Mountains, in coffee-plantations at an elevation of 1100 feet 

 above the sea. 



Their A. armata I do not consider to be specifically distinct, differing as it does only in its 

 slightly smaller size ; and, besides, it appears very improbable that two such closely allied forms, 

 yet distinct species, should occur in the same locality. Mr. Blyth's Arachnotheral from Java also 

 appears to agree well with this species. 



The A. uropygialis, Gray, is, again, a small form of this species ; the type, which is in the 

 British Museum, has no indication of the locality where it was collected. This specimen is 

 mounted, and has the loose silky feathers, which grow on the sides of the back, spread out so as 

 to cover the lower back ; but the presence of these tufts is no specific character, being generally 

 well developed in both A. robusta and A. crassirostris. 



In the British Museum there is another small-sized specimen, which, from possessing the 

 bright yellow pectoral tufts, appears to be a male ; it measures — length 5'5 inches, culmen 1*65, 

 wing 2 - 8, tail 1*9, tarsus - 7. Notwithstanding the small size, it undoubtedly belongs to this 

 species; the colouring is fresh and agrees perfectly with three specimens collected by Governor 

 Ussher in the forest districts of North-western Borneo, one of which specimens, kindly presented 

 to me by that gentleman, I have described above as the adult male ; and my description of the 

 female is taken from a specimen collected by Mr. Henry Everett in the neighbourhood of 

 Sarawak. I have also seen a specimen in the Darmstadt Museum, kindly shown to me by 



