1869.] Indian Arachnoid ca. 2&7 



The feet are very slender, clothed with thin whitish hairs, and a 

 few longer blackish spines intermixed ; their proportionate length 

 is the same which characterizes the genus ; they are like the sternum 

 light brown with the terminations of the joints somewhat darker. The 

 abdomen is regularly cylindrical, slightly turned upwards at the end, a 

 little more than three times as long as broad ; blackish, finely reti- 

 culated with silvery white and green dots ; above, a very narrow black 

 line runs along the centre, giving off other short oblique lines ; the 

 ventral portion is occupied by a longitudinal broad black band, which 

 extends over the slightly prominent epiginium and the spinners. 



$ The male does not appear to differ in size from the female ; it 

 has the falces a little stronger, the cephalothorax somewhat darker 

 brown ; and on the abdomen of the specimen, examined, I did not 

 observe any dark dorsal line. The last joint of the palpi is long, 

 strongly thickened, and gradually attenuating towards the end ; the 

 flagellum is short, simply curved and slightly thickened terminally. 



<? Length of the cephalothorax 1.7 m.m. ; its width 



in the middle 1 m.m. 



abdomen 4*3 ,, „ ; 1 ,, ,, 



one f the 1st pair of feet, . . 21 m.m. 



2nd,, 12 „■„ 



3rd „ 6*5 „ „ 



4th „ 10 



This species appears to be the eastern representative of the common 

 European T. externa, which is also known from Africa and Western 

 Asia ; it can be, however, readily distinguished from the latter by the 

 greater length of the cylindrical abdomen in proportion to that of the 

 thorax, by the smooth sternum, less diverging falces, &c. 



Loc. Neighbourhood of Calcutta ; rare, on foliage. 



GASTRACANTHA, Latr. 

 Subgenus, ISACANTHA, Sim. (Hist. nat. des Araignees, p. 286.) 



Simon suggests the formation of a number of subgenera of Gastracan- 

 tha according to the number and proportionate length of the spines of 

 the abdomen. In the present form there is one pair of spines on either 

 side and one pair posteriorly, all the spines being very nearly, or 

 perfectly, equal in length. 



