12 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Jan. 1, 1S63. 



reddish-brown and glossy ; the eight slender legs are 

 of a light yellow or yellowish-brown, marked in the 

 neighbourhood of the joints with rings of reddish - 

 brown ; thus presenting somewhat the appearance of 

 tortoiseshell. The abdomen is very convex above 

 and very pointed at the spinners, — much resembling 

 a boy's pegtop ; it is thinly clothed with hairs, and 

 is very glossy, the gloss being more perceptible 

 when the spider is distended with food; the colour 

 on the upper part is brown inclining to red, mottled 

 with irregular spots of white and black, the white 

 predominating, and forming an irregular line across 

 the middle : in the centre of this is a blackish spot, 

 and a little lower down a curved black line : the 

 under part is nearly black, except in the neighbour- 

 hood of the spinners, where the colour becomes 

 nearly red. The males are smaller than the females ; 

 the legs are, however, of the same length : these 

 males are wonderfully active, incessantly on the 

 move. 



***&*i - - -^^ 



Fig. 1. Theridion riparium, male and female, enlarged. 



My purpose not being to describe the anatomy of 

 my tiny friend, but to speak of her habits and her 

 curiously constructed domicile, I must refer those 

 of my readers who desire to learn more of the struc- 

 ture of this and other spiders, to the previous pages 

 of this journal, and to Blackwall's* excellent de- 

 scription of this spider. My specimens are not 

 however, so distinctly marked as those figured in 

 the work referred to. 



The Theridion riparium is essentially a light- 

 avoider ; at all events, has a great antipathy to strong 

 light, and usually constructs her singular nest under 

 the shade of overhanging banks, seldom making her 



* A History of the Spiders of Great Britain and Ireland, by 

 John Blackwall. R. Hardwicke, 186l and 1864. 



appearance during the day, but becoming active as 

 darkness creeps on. 



Desirous of observing more closely the habits of 

 this little creature, I suspended five of the newly- 

 built nests in the dead branches of a standard rose- 

 bush, and placing this in a circular fern-case, covered 

 the whole with a bell-glass. As soon as all was 

 still, my proteges left their nests, and at once set to 

 work to make them secure by attaching lines from 

 them to surrounding objects. This operation was 

 not accomplished without some difficulty, as, the 

 space being limited, the spiders constantly crossed 

 each others' lines, aud for two days my little friends 

 engaged in numberless conflicts; however, at the end 



Fig. 2. Nest of pellets of earth, &c. 



of this time they appeared to have made some 

 friendly arrangement, as a collision seldom after- 

 wards occurred, with one exception. In removing 

 one of the nests, I had used it so roughly as to cause 

 the lower part to collapse, and two of the spiders 

 having attached their lines to it, had so securely 

 closed the entrance as to prevent the egress of its 

 occupant. Succeeding at last in making her way out, 

 she was not successful in getting in again, so, boldly 

 attacking a smaller spider with a more commodious 

 domicile, endeavoured to take forcible possession. 

 The rightful owuer fought long and bravely in de- 

 fence of her home and embryo family, until, dragged 

 forth by the leg by sheer force, she became an out- 

 cast and a wanderer ; and although many attempts 

 were afterwards made to regain possession of the 

 home she had been at so much pains to construct, 

 they were all unavailing, and she shortly after died. 

 In the course of a few days a brood of young spiders 

 appeared in this nest, and lived amicably with their 



