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The Atoll of Funafuti, Ellice group : its zoology, botany, ethnology and general structure based on collections made by Charles Hedley of the Australian Museum, Sydney, N.S.W.

Family Salticidæ

Family Salticidæ.

Acompse suavis, L. Koch One immature ♀ specimen.

L. Koch, Die Arachniden Australiens, ii., pp. 1146-9, T. xcix., figs. 6-6d, 7-7d, 1883.

Genus Hyllus, C. Koch.
Hyllus ferox, sp. nov.
(Plate v., figs. '3, 3a, 3b, 3c.)

♀. Oephalothorax, 6mm. long, 5mm. broad; abdomen, 7mm. long, 4mm. broad.

Oephalothorax somewhat shield-shaped, long, broad, high, reddish-brown. Caput reddish-brown, with purple tinge in front, and clothed with a few yellowish scale-like hairs; besides these latter it is also fringed in front and at the sides with a few rather long reddish-brown hairs; below the front row of eyes the margin is thickly clothed with yellowish pubescence. Clypeus broad, arched, reddish-brown, sparingly clothed with short yellowish pubescence; a moderately deep depression is seated midway between the two eyes comprising the third or posterior row; laterally, immediately under each eye of the second row, and seated rather low down, there is a large and prominent tubercle.

page 123

Marginal band narrow, black. Eyes of a pearl-grey lustre with black rings; each is surrounded with a thick fringe of red scalelike hairs; those comprising the front series form a curved row, the curvature directed forward; of these the two central eyes are much the largest; the two comprising the second row are exceedingly minute, and are placed midway between the lateral eyes of the front row, and those of the third series; the latter are equal in size, or nearly so, to the lateral eyes of the front row, and are separated from them by a distance of one and a half millimeters. Legs moderately long, reddish-brown; the anterior pair are the longest and much the strongest; each ambulatory limb is clothed with yellowish hairs, and armed with long, strong, black spines; relative lengths, 1, 2, 4, 3. Palpi rather long, slender, yellowish, clothed with long yellow hairs, and armed with short, strong, black spines. Ealces robust, moderately long, strongly arched in front, divergent at apex, reddish-brown, with a somewhat purple tinge, thickly clothed at base with rather long yellowish hairs, and scantily so in front, and at outer margins with short yellowish pubescence; inner margins rather more freely clothed with somewhat longer hairs; the upper margin of the furrow of each falx is armed with a row of four teeth, and the lower margin with a row of two; fangs long, strong, reddish-brown. Maxillæ long, club-shaped, moderately arched; the surface sparingly clothed with rather long hoary hairs, and the inner margins at apex thickly so with long dark brown hairs. Labium concolorous, long, conical, thickly clothed with long yellowish hairs. Sternum elliptical, convex, pale-yellowish, thickly clothed with long yellowish hairs. Abdomen oblong-ovate; superior surface thickly clothed with short, closely adpressed golden scale-like hairs, and are furnished with a few long yellowish hairs; commencing at a distance of two millimetres from anterior extremity, and continuing towards spinnerets, there are two lateral sooty-black bands, the margins of which are sinuous; these bands are rounded oft' in front and pointed at posterior extremity; sides lightly grooved or furrowed, thickly clothed with short adpressed golden scale-like hairs; inferior surface pale yellow, thickly clothed with short yellowish pubescence. Epigyne slightly elevated in front, with two somewhat spherical lobes; deeply grooved laterally and in front. Spinnerets long, yellow-brown, thickly clothed with long yellowish hairs.

One specimen.

Speaking of this capture Mr. Hedley says:—"This example was the only one seen by any of the party; but no credit accrues to me for collecting it, for the creature obligingly collected itself. With an interest for biological research, and in a spirit of self-sacrifice which other undescribed species would do well to copy, she dropped straight into a collecting-tube. I was at the time page 124crouched under a mangrove tree (Rhizophora mucronata), at the edge of the swamp, picking specimens of an Enteropneusta from a puddle, so I permitted the spider, when it descended from the leaves above, to drown in the water, and transferred it to formol when I reached camp."

Hyllus audax, sp. nov.
(Plate v., figs. 4, 4a.)

♀. Cephalothorax, 4mm. long, 3½mm. broad; abdomen, 5½mm. long, 3mm. broad.

Cephalothorax somewhat shield-shaped, long, broad, high. Caput dark brown approaching bistre, glabrous above, fringed in front and at sides with a few rather long dark brown hairs, and below the front row of eyes thickly clothed with silvery scalelike hairs. Clypeus broad, arched, reddish-brown, sparingly clothed with short hoary pubescence; there is a moderately deep depression seated midway between the two eyes comprising the third posterior row; immediately under each eye of the second row, and seated moderately low down, there is a large and prominent tubercle. Marginal band narrow, black. Eyes similar to those of H. ferox, Rainb., except in so far as the space intervening between the third row and the lateral eyes of the front series, the distance in this species being one millimetre. Legs moderately long, reddish-brown; the first pair much the longest and strongest; each ambulatory limb is clothed with brown hairs, and armed with long, black, strong spines; relative lengths, 1, 2, 4, 3. Palpi long, somewhat lighter in colour, clothed with lFong yellowish hairs, and armed with short, strong, black spines, Ealces robust, moderately long, strongly arched in front, divergent at apex, dark brown, clothed with a few short hoary hairs at base; inner margins rather thickly fringed with long dark brown hairs; the upper margin of the furrow of each falx is armed with a row of four teeth, and the lower margin with a row of two; fangs long, strong, reddish-brown. Maxillge and labium as in H. ferox. Sternum elliptical, convex, pale yellow, moderately clothed with long, yellowish hairs. Abdomen oblong-ovate; superior surface thickly clothed with short, closely adpressed golden scale-like hairs; commencing at anterior extremity, and terminating near spinnerets, there are two lateral sooty-black bands, the margins of which are sinuous; sides lightly grooved or furrowed longitudinally, and thickly clothed with short adpressed golden scalelike hairs; inferior surface pale yellowish, thickly clothed with silvery pubescence. Epigyne slightly elevated in front, with two somewhat spherical lobes; deeply grooved laterally and in front. Spinnerets long, yellow-brown, thickly clothed with long yellowish hairs.

One specimen.

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