Octavius Pickard-Cambridge described 108 new spider species
from material collected by Ferdinand Stoliczka on the Second
Yarkand Expedition 1873–1874. A brief history of the both the
first and second expeditions is given, along with a detail account
of the material history. Due to the death of Stoliczka in the field
whilst on the return leg of the expedition, much of the data that
accompanied the specimens was lost. Despite this, the collection
remains an important one, representing some of the earliest
material known to western science from the region. Since
description, the types have largely gone unrecognised in the col-
lection due the various difficulties in identifying them. In 2017
a project was started to rectify this. To date, 36 species have
been redescribed. Through a combination of specimen study and
archival research it has been possible to present a corrected
locality list for 78 of the type specimens. Advice for those wish-
ing to study the Yarkand material or historic spider collections
of this nature is given.
