210 Mr. J. Blackwall on new Sp'cies of Spiders. 



niinent and cylindrical ; it is slightly convex above, projects a 

 little over tlic base of the cephalothorax, and is clothed with 

 adpressed grey hairs; the upper part is of a yellowish-brown 

 colour, with some long blackish hairs at its extremity, in front, 

 and an obscure, brown, fusiform band extending thence, in the 

 medial line, about half its length ; the under part is of a pale 

 dull-yellowish hue ; the basal joint of the spinners has a yel- 

 lowish-white tint, and the other joints of those organs are of a 

 brownish-black colour. 



I have much pleasure in connecting with this Drassus the 

 name of Mrs. Louisa E. Collings of Serk, who on various occa- 

 isions has obligingly forwarded to me numerous interesting spe- 

 cies of Araneidea captured in that island, and among them 

 several specimens of this Drassus in different stages of growth, 

 but all in a state of immaturity. 



Family Ciniflonid^. 

 Genus Veleda, Blackw. 

 Veleda pollens. 

 Veleda pallens, Blackw., Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 3. vol. ix. p. 372, 

 I am informed by Frederick Pollock, Esq., of Thurlow, who 

 has resided in the island of Madeira, that he has found speci- 

 mens of Veleda pallens in that island, associated with Nephila 

 aurelia, at an elevation of 800 feet above the level of the sea. 

 This species, he remarks, constructs a horizontal geometric 

 snare, and invests one of the radii with a loosish thread. Should 

 a young Nephila venture to trespass on the snare, the Veleda 

 rapidly approaches it with a vibratory motion, and envelopes its 

 victim with silk drawn from the spinners by a lateral motion of 

 the posterior legs. 



Family Theridiid^. 



Genus Theridion, Walck. 



Theridion triste. 



Theridion triste, Ilahn, Die Arachn. Band i. p. 89, tab. 21. fig. 67. 

 Theridium triste, Kocli, Die Arachn. Band viii. p. 83, tab. 27(>. figs. 653, 

 654. 



Two females of this species (now first recorded as British) 

 were found under a stone, in a pasture near Hendre House, on 

 the 16th of June, 1864. They were placed in a phial; and one 

 of them constructed therein two balloon-shaped cocoons of white 

 silk, of a loose texture, the larger of which measured ^ of an 

 inch in diameter, and contained about thirty spherical eggs of a 

 pale-yellow colour. 



The Theridion triste of Walckeuaer (Hist. Nat. des Insect. 



