THERIDIIDAE 403 



where it is abruptly truncated or bluntly pointed. The genus 

 Fpisinus is widely distributed, and one species, U. truncatus, is 

 one of our most peculiar English spiders. It occurs occasionally 

 under ledges of grassy or heathery banks. The genus Tomoxcna 

 is an inhabitant of tropical Asia. Janulus is found in the same 

 regions, and in tropical America. 



(iii.) The Thekidioninae are a large group of spiders, often 

 very ornate, and spinning snares of irregular threads running in all 

 directions. The abdomen is usually more or less globular. The 

 chelicerae are small and weak, and the paturon is transversely 

 (not obliquely) truncated for the reception of the small unguis or 

 fang. The somewhat long thin legs are almost or entirely 

 destitute of spines. 



We may consider certain genera as typical of the various 

 groups into which this sub-family naturally falls. Theridio7i is 

 the richest genus of the entire order, numbering some 320 

 species, of which seventeen inhabit the British Isles. During 

 the summer months nearly every bush is studded with the 

 irregular webs of these little spiders, generally prettily coloured, 

 and with globular abdomen. The commonest is T. sisyjyhium, 

 which swarms on hollies and other bushes all over the country. 

 One of the handsomest is T. formosum, a rather local species, 

 about a sixth of an inch in length, with the abdomen beauti- 

 fully marked with oblique lines of white, yellow, red, and black. 

 T. te'pidariortim, common in conservatories, is like a large and 

 plainer edition of T. formosum. T. rijMrium is remarkable for 

 the curious earth-encrusted tube which it forms for the recep- 

 tion of its egg - cocoon. T. himaculatum may often be seen 

 among coarse herbage, holding on to its ridiculously large egg- 

 cocoon ; it is a small spider, and the sexes are more than usually 

 unlike. 



Latrodectus and Dipoena are associated exotic genera, includ- 

 ing some of the largest species of the group. Latrodectus is 

 peculiarly interesting on account of the great reputation for 

 especially poisonous properties which some of its species have 

 acquired. The New Zealand " Katipo " is L. scelio, while 

 L. 13-guttatus enjoys an almost equally evil reputation as the 

 " malmignatte " in Corsica. The American species L. mactans 

 (Fig. 197, p. 362) is also considered highly venomous. These 

 spiders form their irregular webs on low bushes, and it is curious 



