20 Mr. J. Blackwall on newly discovered species 0/ Araneidea. 



and the inferior one is inflected near its base. The palpi have 

 a dark brown tint, with the exception of the humeral joint, 

 which has a yellowish brown hue. Abdomen oviform, glossy, 

 sparingly clothed with short hairs, convex above, projecting over 

 the base of the cephalo-thorax ; it is of a brown-black colour, 

 with a sharply dentated, pale yellow-brown band extending along 

 the middle of its upper part, and a rather obscure line of the 

 same hue on each side of its anterior extremity : the sexual or- 

 gans have a thin longitudinal septum in the middle, a small 

 process connected with their posterior margin, which is directed 

 backwards, and their colour, with that of the branchial oper- 

 cula, is yellowish brown. The medial, dentated band is much 

 less perfectly defined in some individuals than in others. 



The form of the male is shghter than that of the female and 

 its colour is darker, the dentated band in the medial line of the 

 upper part of the abdomen being rather obscure. The cubital 

 and radial joints of its palpi are short, and the latter, which is 

 the stronger, is somewhat produced at its extremity, on the 

 inner side ; the digital joint is of an irregular oval figure, having 

 a slender, curved process at its base, on the outer side, and a 

 large lobe near its extremity, on the inner side ; it is convex and 

 hairy externally, concave within, comprising the palpal organs ; 

 these organs are very highly developed, prominent, complicated 

 in structure, with two strong, curved spines at their extremity, 

 one of which describes a circle and comprises within its circum- 

 volution some light-coloured membrane and the recurved point 

 of the other spine ; they are of a dark brown hue tinged with 

 red. The convex sides of the digital joints are directed towards 

 each other. 



Both sexes of this spider, in a state of maturity, were disco- 

 vered by Mr. R. H. Meade in Nab Wood, near Bingley, in York- 

 shire, in 1852, and an adult female, which had been taken at 

 Southgate, was forwarded to me by Mr. Meade towards the close 

 of the same year. 



Linyphia alacris. 



Length of the female Jjjth of an inch ; length of the cephalo- 

 thorax -^j ; breadth J^ ; breadth of the abdomen g'g ; length of 

 an anterior leg \^ ; length of a leg of the third pair i. 



Cephalo-thorax oval, convex, glossy, with an indentation in 

 the medial line : falces powerful, conical, rather divergent at the 

 extremities, armed with teeth on the inner sui-face, and inclined 

 towards the sternum : legs long, slender, and provided with hairs 

 and a few fine spines. These parts, with the palpi, are of a pale 

 yellowish brown colour, the lateral margins of the cephalo-thorax 

 being darkish. MaxilL-e straight, with the exterior angle, at the 



