Page:Supplement to harvesting ants and trap-door spiders (IA supplementtoharv00mogg).pdf/160

 *scription of N. meridionalis [female] (Cambr. l.c.). It is not invariable in a long series of female examples; occasionally one is found with four spines on one of these genual joints, in others there is occasionally but one spine and sometimes (but rarely) none; perhaps in this case broken off? I am inclined to attach some importance as a specific character to the number, presence, or absence of these spines on the outer side of the genual joint of the third pair of legs; not that it is an invariable character, few, if any, specific characters are absolute and invariable, nor that it is of more importance than the armature of other portions of the different legs, but as being more easily observed and less liable to injury than the larger and more numerous spines on other parts. Equally useful in specific determination are the spines at the fore-*extremity on the upper side of the radial joint of the palpus. This, however, applies only to the male, whereas the character derived from the spines on the genual joints of the third pair of legs applies to both sexes.

Another character by which the present species ([female]) may be distinguished from N. dubia (N. cæmentaria, Sim.) is that the former is rather narrower at the fore extremity of the caput, which is also less elevated, being almost equally level with the thorax.

The description of the female given (l.c. supra) needs but little addition. It may be noticed, however, that the central longitudinal tapering orange band on the caput is faintly continued to the extreme hinder margin of the thorax, and the thoracic fovea is rather sharply curved. The intervals between the eyes is the same as in those of N. Moggridgii, though