On EUROPEAN SPIDERS. 91 
The superior tarsal claws are tolerably large, armed with about 5 
teeth, of which the two exterior ones are long and divergent; the palpal 
claw has 5 teeth increasing in length, and of which the 3 exterior are 
crooked and somewhat diverging. The inferior tarsal claw has a thick, 
blunt, somewhat crooked tooth and an inconsiderable point behind it. 
Gen. 12. DIPŒNA x. 
Deriv.: 4ízowoc, proper name. 
Syn.: 1845. Atea O. Koch, Die Arachn., XI, (ad part.:) p. 143. 
1863. Theridium CAMBr., Descr. of 24 new spec. of spid., (ad part.:) p. 16 (8576). 
1864. Epeira: sub-gen. Atea Srw., H. N. d. Araignées, p. 260 (ad partem). 
Type: Dipena melanogaster (C. Koch). 
We have formed this genus for Atea melanogaster C. KocH (Ther. 
congener CAMBR.), which is not an Atea at all, not even an Epeiroid, as 
C. KocH maintains (loc. cit). From Theridium, to which this genus ap- 
proaches more nearly than to any other, and to which the only yet known 
species is referred by CAMBRIDGE (loc. cit.)*), it differs principally by the 
posterior row of eyes being curved backwards, and by the coarse bristles 
with which the legs are armed. 
In the only known species the height of the clypeus is almost greater 
than the length of the mandibles, more than 14 times, nearly double as great 
as the length of the area occupied by the central eyes. The almost spherical 
abdomen is slightly emarginate or hollowed out at the base. The tarsal 
claws are rather strong, but small, especially the inferior, which has 
one tolerably long tooth; the superior are armed with a row of short saw- 
teeth proceeding from the side of the claw and pointing obliquely forwards, 
which row reaches nearly to the tip of the claw. The female's palpal claw 
is bent almost exactly to a half-circle, small, and tolerably powerful; I have 
not been able to see any teeth on it. 'The construction of the claws is 
then, in this genus, very unlike that in the genus Theridium. 
1) Even AUSSERER, though he includes it in his genus Atea, else consisting only 
of Epeiroidæ, says, that, on account of its form, it must necessarily be considered a 
Theridium. (Die Arachn. Tirols, I, p. 150). The web of this spider seems to be . 
as yet unknown. 
