collected in the Cape de Verde Islands. 91 



coloured ; the anterior extremity, contiguous to the cephalothorax, 

 has a white hue, and comprises a vertical black bar, which is 

 enlarged at its lower extremity, and is crossed at its upper 

 extremity by a shorter one of the same hue. 



The collection contained two females ; but the abdomen of 

 each was so corrugated that it was not possible to define with 

 accuracy the design formed by the distribution of its colours ; 

 the characters given above, however, are sufficient to distinguish 

 this spider from other known species of the genus. Both speci- 

 mens were captured in the Island of St. Nicholas. 



Family Theridiid^. 



Genus' Theridion, Walck. 



Theridion fallax. 



Length of the female ^rd of an inch ; length of the cephalo- 

 thorax ^, breadth i ; breadth of the abdomen ^ ; length of an 

 anterior leg -^ ; length of a leg of the third pair -^. 



The cephalothorax is convex, nearly oval, slightly compressed 

 before, rounded on the sides, which are marked with furrows 

 converging towards a large indentation in the medial line, and 

 is thinly clothed with short, whitish hairs ; the falces are conical 

 and vertical ; the maxillse are obHquely truncated at the extre- 

 mity, on the outer side, and are inclined towards the lip, which 

 is semicircular j and the sternum is heart-shaped. These parts 

 have a very dark-brown hue; the extremity of the falces is 

 tinged with redj particularly on the inner side, and the extremity 

 of the maxillse, the apex of the lip, and a spot on the sternum 

 opposite to the base of the lip have a yellowish-brown tint. 

 The eyes are disposed on the anterior part of the cephalothorax 

 in two transverse, nearly straight, parallel rows; the four in- 

 termediate ones form a square, the two anterior ones, which 

 are seated on a protuberance, being the largest and darkest- 

 coloured of the eight ; the eyes of each lateral pair are placed 

 on small tubercles, and are separated by a considerable interval. 

 The legs are long, robust, and provided with hairs, the meta- 

 tarsi and tarsi being disproportionally slender; they are of a 

 yellowish-brown colour, the metatarsi and tarsi, which are much 

 the palest, having a slight tinge of red; and the extremity of 

 the femora and tibiae, and the genua, have a brownish-black hue; 

 the first pair is the longest, then the fourth, and the third pair 

 is the shortest ; each tarsus is terminated by three claws ; the 

 two superior ones are curved and pectinated, and the inferior 

 one is inflected near its base. The palpi are short, and have a 

 curved, pectinated claw at their extremity ; they resemble the 

 legs in colour, but are without any brownish -black marks. The 



7* 



