Superfamily Argiopoidea 



cephalothorax isdarker in the middle, but there is no distinct stripe 

 and there are no distinct markings on the lower side of the body. 



In the female the dorsal stripe of the abdomen is often very 

 brightly coloured — white at the edges and red in the middle, 

 in the male there is no distinct stripe on the cephalothorax and 

 no distinct spots on the lower side. The openings of the sper- 

 matheae are beneath the plate, so that they are not visible from 

 the outside (Fig. 352). 



Emerton states that the web of this species is found on low 

 plants of all kinds, usually two or three feet from the ground. 

 There is sometimes a small tent, often hardly deep enough to 



Fig. 352. THERIDION DIFFERENS, 

 EPIGYNUM 



Fig. 353- THERII)H>\ 



MURARIUM, PALPUS 



OF MALE 



cover the spider, from which the web spreads two or three inches 

 according to the shape of the plant. The egg-sac is white, nearlv 

 as large as the spider, and is attached in the nest. 



Theridion murarium (T. mu-ra'ri-um). — See the introduction 

 to the account of T. differens above. In T. murarium the cephalo- 

 thorax is pale with a dark line in the middle and one on each 

 side, the middle line sometimes divided into two near the eyes. 

 The sternum is pale with a black edge and a black stripe in 

 the middle. 



The palpal organ of the male is of the form shown in Fig. 

 353. It differs from that of T. differens in lacking the toothed 

 projecting point of the bulb in the form of the terminal apophysis, 

 and in the presence of a sickle-shaped black spine on the inner 

 margin; the embolus is of moderate length. 



353 



