523 



De Brito Capello has endeavoured loc. cit. to show, that Argyopes 

 Clarkii Blackw. 1865') and A. caudatus id. 1865 2 ) are nothing more 

 than individual variations of A. lobata (sericea). As regards A. Clar- 

 kii, which De Brito Capfllo refers to his 'A.sericea. Var. A. Cabo- 

 verdiana (to which he also refers A. splendida Sav. et Aud.), Black- 

 wall's description seems to me to indicate so many differences from 

 A. lobata, that I cannot doubt the independence of A. Clarkii. The 

 cephalothorax of this species is stated to be dark brown; the legs are 

 of the same colour, and no mention is made of paler rings; the ab- 

 domen is stated to have, in addition to the lateral prominences, "a 

 smaller and more pointed one on each side of its anterior extremity" 

 etc.; the description of the vulva does not seem to me to suit that 

 of A. lobata. In A. lobata ¥, as is known, the cephalothorax is 

 yellowish, with two dark longitudinal bands, and with a dark trans- 

 verse patch immediately before the petiolum; the legs are brownish 

 yellow, thickly annulated with black or brown; the abdomen has 

 no pointed protuberances near its anterior extremity. Of the form of 

 the vulva we shall speak hereafter. As to Arg. caihdata [-?<s] Blackw. , 

 which De Brito Capello classes under 'A. sericea. Var. B. Zairien- 

 sis , that species appears to me indeed very closely allied to A. lo- 

 bata, much more so than A. Clarkii, but it is nevertheless probably 

 an independent species: it has five dark transversal bands on the 

 abdomen, the legs are "of a dark brown colour, the inferior surface 

 of the coxae and of the femora, especially at their base, being strongly 

 tinged with dull yellow": the vulva has "along, pale, reddish brown 

 process in connexion with its anterior margin, that is directed back- 

 wards" etc. — On the other hand De Brito Capello is quite right 

 when he says that a short, transversely annulated caudal process is 

 often found in A. sericea j: in some of my specimens the abdomen 

 terminates in a conical protuberance, which is often very distinctly 

 wrinkled transversely, especially on the upper side; in others this 

 protuberance is, as it were, drawn in, so that the abdomen in the 

 midst of its posterior extremity is truncated or even slightly emar- 

 ginated; but even in such individuals a few very short, close, trans- 

 verse wrinkles or lines, diminishing in length the more backward they 

 are situated, are perceptible at the hindmost extremity of the middle 



1) Descr. of — spiel, captured in the Cape de Verde Islands, in Ann. and 

 Mag. of Nat. Hist. , 3 Ser. , XVI , p. 98 (19). 



2) Descr. of.... Aran, from the East of Central Africa, ibid., p. 347 (12). 



