Supplement to the New England Spiders. 181 
The markings of the abdomen are distinct at the anterior end 
and also over the spinnerets, while in the middle they consist of 
small and indistinct spots in irregular transverse rows extending 
down the sides. At the anterior end is a bright white spot with 
a larger black spot on each side sharply defined toward the middle 
line, and irregular and indistinct at the sides. At the hinder end 
over the spinnerets is a white spot with short black stripes at the 
sides. On each side of the abdomen is a short, dark, vertical stripe 
that in some individuals is deep black. 
In the male the markings of the abdomen unite into a more 
distinct middle light stripe, bordered by two dark ones, but the 
white spots at the ends are distinct as in the female. 
The epigynum is small and rounded behind with two openings 
twice their diameter apart. The skin is so transparent that the 
tubes of the epigynum are seen through it and obscure the openings. 
At the end of the palpal organ is a long thin appendage, widened 
and twisted at the end, partly enclosing and supporting the tube. 
fast tio. Ga. 
Found at New Haven, Conn., Jaffrey, N. H., and by Dr. Fox at 
Hollis, N. H. 
Latrodectus mactans, Fabr. 
Theridion verecundum, Hentz. 
This is the largest and most conspicuous species of the family. 
The abdomen is round, sometimes a centimeter in diameter, and the 
whole body is deep black except a bright red spot under the ab- 
domen and one or a row of red spots on the upper side. In alcohol 
the spots fade to white or yellow. In young individuals there is 
a white line around the front of the abdomen and three rows of 
spots partly white and partly red along the back, and the legs are 
brown in the middle of the joints and black at the ends. The 
adult males are marked much like the young with the lateral spots 
elongated and with a red line in the middle of each. The males 
are much smaller than the females, some of them only three or 
four millimeters long but with long legs. The lateral eyes, which 
in most Therididae are close together, are in Latrodectus as far 
apart as they are from the middle eyes. The epigynum is of the 
usual Theridion pattern with a single, wide, oval opening partly 
divided on the front edge. The palpal organ has a very large and 
long tube coiled in two flat turns across the end of the bulb. In 
alcohol this tube often becomes displaced and coils around the bulb 
in any direction. 
