92 Mr. J. Blackball on recently discovered Spiders 



abdomen is short, broad, oviform, thinly clothed with hairs, 

 very convex above, and projects greatly over the base of the 

 cephalothorax ; it is of a dark-brown colour above, minutely 

 spotted with white; in the medial line of the anterior part there 

 are a few irregular white lines encompassing small dark-brown 

 spaces ; several rather obscure, slightly curved, whitish, trans- 

 verse lines occur above the spinners, and at the base of those 

 organs, on each side, there are two minute spots of the same 

 hue; the sides are of a pale dull yellowish-white colour, re- 

 ticulated with brown, and are marked with long, oblique, 

 whitish hands curved downwards and narrowly bordered 

 with brownish black ; these bands, which taper to their lower 

 extremity, comprise in their broader part a dark-brown space, 

 and their superior extremity, which is abruptly contracted, is 

 curved upwards ; the under part is paler than the sides, and 

 has a large white mark in the middle, reticulated with pale and 

 bordered with dark brown ; the anterior part of this mark is the 

 broadest, and comprises an oblong-oval, brownish-black spot on 

 each side of the medial line ; and the middle of its posterior 

 extremity is produced in the form of a small semicircle; the 

 branchial opercula have a brown hue, and that of the sexual 

 organs, which are well developed and rather prominent, is dark 

 red- brown. 



One female of this species, which is nearly allied to the spiders 

 of the genus Latrodectus by the disposition of its eyes, was taken 

 in the Island of St. Antonio. In consequence of its abdomen 

 being much disfigured, it was not possible to describe with per- 

 fect accuracy the design formed upon it by the distribution of 

 its colours; however, from the characteristics given above, there 

 can be no difficulty in identifying it. 



Theridion quinquenotatum. 



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

 thorax -jig-, breadth ■£-$; breadth of the abdomen T l . r ; length of 

 a posterior leg ^-; length of a leg of the third pair -yV. 



The eyes are disposed on the anterior part of the cephalothorax 

 in two transverse rows ; the four intermediate ones describe a 

 square, the two anterior ones, which are rather the smallest and 

 darkest-coloured of the eight, being seated on a slight protuber- 

 ance ; the eyes of each lateral pair are placed obliquely on a 

 tubercle, and are contiguous. The cephalothorax is oval, convex, 

 glossy, with an indentation in the medial line of the posterior 

 region, and slopes gradually from the anterior extremity to the 

 base ; the falccs are conical, vertical, and armed with a few teeth 

 at the extremity on the inner surface ; the maxillae are obliquely 

 truncated at the extremity, on the outer side, and strongly in- 



