188 Transactions. — Zoology. 



lateral margins dark oblique streaks ; branchial opercula orange- 

 red. Genital organ large, concave within ; anterior membrane 

 or labrum forms a narrow transversely wrinkled hood, centrally 

 produced into a tapering process, directed backwards ; labium 

 large, dark, everted. 



Male much smaller than female, less distinctly marked, tints 

 darker. Actual and relative length of legs differ from females, 

 1, 2, 4, 3 = 14, 11, 9, 7 mm. 



Palpi furnished with black hairs, have the bright-reddish 

 hue of legs, with exception of radial and digital joints, which 

 have a blackish-brown tint ; humeral joint long, cubital and 

 radial short, latter cup-shaped ; digital joint oval, convex, and 

 hairy externally, convexities directed towards each other ; con- 

 cave within, palpal organs simple lobes, terminating with a broad, 

 concave, curved greenish membranous process, with dark margins. 



(a) Cephalothorax light yellow-brown, faintly suffused with 

 dark tint. Legs shade lighter than cephalothorax, annuli mode- 

 rately marked. Abdomen dull, pale yellow-brown, spotted and 

 marked with dark-brown, specific pattern more or less oblite- 

 rated. Male has more or less light tints of female. 



(p) Cephalothorax glossy brown-black. Legs clear light- 

 brown, or greenish- brown, annotations dark. Pattern on abdo- 

 men resembles type form, but darker. Male has the characteristic 

 dark coloration of the variety. 



(y) Marks on abdomen black, resemble type form, ground 

 colour slaty-grey, mottled with creamy-white. 



This species is common about buildings, and is to be met 

 with on shrubs. Commences pairing about October ; young 

 rarely hatched before November. Cocoons are fabricated through- 

 out the summer until the end of May, when mature examples — 

 as is generally the case with species of this family — become 

 scarce during the winter months. The female usually constructs 

 from 2 to 4 pea-shaped Cocoons about 10 mm. in depth, composed 

 of light-brown silk, of a soft felty texture, containing from 

 60-350 unagglutinated spherical straw-coloured eggs. The web 

 is of normal form — viz., a series of lines intersecting one another 

 in different planes, and at various angles. 



Te Karaka, Auckland, A.T.U. 



Theridium veruculatum, sp. n. PI. VII., fig 1. 



Length of a mature female 4-4^ mm., and of an adult 

 male 3 mm. 



Cephalothorax oval, moderately constricted in front ; glossy, 

 yellowish-brown colour, suffused with a darker hue ; caput 

 convex, well-defined ; indentation below eyes ; thoracic fovea 

 large, somewhat circular ; radial striae moderate ; contour of 

 profile arched; clypeus prominent, in height about equal to depth 

 of ocular area. 



