332 F. P. SMITH OX SOME BRITISH SPIDERS TAKEN IN 1908. 



in the female. Even were the males inseparable, however, I 

 should be very unwilling to regard the females as dimorphic 

 forms of a single species, seeing that one is typically a northern 

 and the other a southern form. Dimorphism ought, to my mind, 

 to be admitted only where, as in the case of Oedothorax tuberosus 

 and gibbosus and Troxochrus scabriculus and cirrifrons, the two 

 forms almost invariably occur together. In the present case, 

 however, a careful examination of the male palpi will show 

 small but sharply defined and apparently quite constant differ- 

 ences, particularly in the paracymbium (the modified outer 

 branch of the tarsal joint) and slightly in the transparent 

 membrane connected with the palpal organs (Figs. 5 and 6). 



Entelecara acuminata (Wid.), 1834. 



1834. Theridion acuminatum, Wid., Zool. Misc. 



1863. Walckenaera altifrons, Camb., Zoologist. 

 1879. ,, ,, Camb., Spid. Dorset. 



1906. Entelecara acuminata, F. P. S., Journ. Quehett Club. 



1907. „ „ F. P. S., Journ. Quehett Club. 



This species occurred at Bexhill in enormous numbers during 



the last week of May and the first week of June. The iron 



railings surrounding the cemetery at Clinch Green were so thickly 



populated that hardly a crevice could be found which did not 



contain a female, generally with a male in the near vicinity. In 



order to make a typical gathering I collected as far as possible 



every specimen upon a ten-foot extent of railing — yet in less 



than half an hour their places had been taken by new arrivals, so 



much so that I was unable to decide exactly where the collection 



had been made. The spiders were not using the railings as a 



position of vantage from which to embark on an aerial excursion, 



but had built their tiny snares there. Curiously enough, I did 



not see, amongst the thousands of webs, a victim of any sort, 



and I was rather perplexed to know whence the sustenance of 



the owners was derived. Very possibly the clouds of tiny diptera 



which appeared at dusk supplied the deficiency. At any rate the 



spiders were plump and apparently well fed, and the males were 



courting their mates with an earnestness not in the least 



suggestive of hard times. The epigvnum of this species is figured 



on Plate 25, Figs. 9, 10, 11, the drawings, which show three 



typical variations, being made from recently killed specimens. 



