446 Mr. J. Blackwall on the Structure, Functions, (Economy, 



97. Theridion variegatum. 



Theridion variegatum, Walck. Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt. t. ii. p. 332. 

 thoracicum, Wider, Museum Senckenb. B. i. p. 218. taf. 14. 



callens, Blackw. Linn. Trans, vol. xviii. p. 627. 



Era variegata, Koch, Uebers. des Arachn. Syst. erstes Heft, p. 8. 



In the fourth volume of his ' Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt.' p. 496, 

 M. Walckenaer has very properly added the name Theridion 

 callens, conferred by me on a small spider desci'ibed in the 

 ' Transactions of the Linnsean Society,' to the synonyma of The- 

 ridion variegatum, a correction which I had previously made in 

 my MS. catalogue of British spiders, having satisfied myself, by 

 referring to Herrich Schaffer's 'Deutschlands Insecten,' Heft 138, 

 fig. 5, 6, that the Ero variegata of M. Koch is identical with 

 Theridion callens, and, like it, must become a synonym of The- 

 ridion variegatum. 



This species occurs among grass growing in and near woods 

 in the west of Denbighshire. The female fabricates a very re- 

 markable balloon-shaped cocoon, about ^th of an inch in dia- 

 meter, which is composed of soft silk of a loose texture and pale 

 brown colour, inclosed in an irregular network of coarse dark 

 red-brown filaments ; several of the lines composing this network 

 unite near the smaller extremity of the cocoon, leaving intervals 

 there through which the young pass when they quit it, and being 

 cemented together throughout the remainder of their extent, 

 form a slender stem, varying from j^jth to i of an inch in length, 

 by which the cocoon is attached to the surface of stones and 

 fragments of rock, resembling in its figure and erect position 

 some of the minute plants belonging to the class Cryptogamia. 

 The eggs are large, considering the small size of the spider, five 

 or six in number, spherical, not agglutinated together, and of a 

 brown colour. 



From a cocoon of Theridion variegatum transmitted to me in 

 July 1851 by R. H. Meade, Esq., of Bradford, Yorkshire, in 

 which locality it was found, eight young spiders had made their 

 escape ; they were included in the small box containing the 

 cocoon. 



98. Theridion signatum. 



Theridion signatum, Walck. Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt. t. ii. p. 333 ; 



Blackw. Linn. Trans, vol. xix. p. 124. 

 quadrisignatum, Hahn, Die Arachn. B. i. p. 80. tab. 20. fig. 60 



(misnumbered 59 in the plate). 

 Drassus phaleratus, Sund. Vet. Acad. Handl. 1831, p. 133. 

 Asagena phalerata, Sund. Consp. Arachn. p. 19, 20. 

 serratipes, Koch, Uebers. des Arachn. Syst. erstes Heft, p. 13 ; 



Die Arachn. B. vi. p. 98. tab. 204. fig. 502, 503. 



