292 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



from th$ end of this band a few threads reached to the bottom 

 (27 mm.) and sides of the vial. At the opposite end of the co 

 coon from the supporting band were 7 oblong, black excremental 

 pellets evidently extruded by the larva before closing itself 

 in the cocoon. The abdomen of the spider was reduced to al 

 most nothing, but the cephalothorax and legs remained natural. 

 May 25 the adult issued from the opposite end of the cocoon from 

 the excrement. 



The cocoon of P. dictynce mentioned above was of about the 

 same size and had a smaller supporting band, but was composed 

 of white silk and was much more delicate (nearly transparent) . 



4. Polysphincta sp. 



Larva not reared. Feeding externally upon the abdomen of 

 Linyphia communis Hentz. Collected at Beverly, Mass., Au 

 gust 28, 1869, by J. H. Emerton. 



5. Polysphincta sp. 



Shrunken larva only. Found in cocoon attached to dead spider 

 of the Attid genus Icius. Collected at Eastport, Maine, August 

 18, 1872, by J. H. Emerton. 



6. Polysphincta sp. 



Larva not reared. Collected on the dorsum of Theridium 

 spirale (?) by J. H. Emerton. (Neither date nor location.) 



7. Polysphincta sp. 



Known only by the larva, which was found attached to a speci 

 men of Pardosa luteola Marx in a collection of spiders from 

 Ounalaska. 



8. Polysphincta theridii n. sp. 



Length, 5.4 mm. ; expanse, 8 mm. Belongs to the true genus Poly 

 sphincta as differentiated from Zatypota Forster, Oxyrrhexis Forst. and 

 Zaglyptus Forst. by Schmiedeknecht's tables (Zool. Jahrbiicher III, 3, 

 432-3). The cubital cross-vein is represented by a distinct stump closely 

 proximad of the angle of the cubital, which is slightly marked. Metas- 

 cutellum with two parallel median longitudinal carinae diverging widely 

 behind and bordering a pentagonal space which is slightly and irregularly 

 longitudinally ridged ; first segment of abdomen with two dorsal median 

 longitudinal subparallel carinae diverging anteriorly and converging at 

 posterior end of segment to form a distinct tubercle; second and subse 

 quent abdominal segments each with a well-defined finely punctate space 

 shaped much like the black markings on the abdomen of P. (Zatypota) 

 dictynce (See fig. i). General color dull black; all legs uniform honey- 

 yellow, except that hind tibiae are brown at the tips; scape and pedicel 

 of antennas honey-yellow; palpi honey-yellow, clypeus darker. 



Described from two cf specimens received from J. H. Emerton, 

 and each labelled " from cocoon in nest of Theridium, Eastport, 



