REV. O. P. CAMBRIDGE ON NEW BRITISH SPIDERS. 439 
in decora the eyes of the hind row are equidistant. The digital joints of the palpi also in 
decora are in a pointed form, prominent at their base, the prominence in each palpus 
being almost in contact with the inner extremity of the radial joint (a similar promi- 
nence exists in JN. subtilis); the palpal organs of all three species (although their com- 
plex structure defies accurate description) are yet visibly different in structure upon a 
close examination with a lens. 
Two specimens of N. decora were captured by myself at the roots of grass and low 
plants at Formby Hall, near Liverpool, in the summer of 1859. 
NERIENE MOLLIS, n. Sp. 
Male adult, length 7; of an inch. 
The only specimen of this minute and obscure species that has come under my notice 
had evidently not long. undergone its final moult, and hence its colours were far paler 
than they would have been at a later period. Still it appears to be distinct from any 
species I am acquainted with, although presenting no very marked distinctive specific 
characters. In the specimen alluded to, the cephalothorax is of a pale yellow, margined 
finely with blackish ; the legs are nearly white, furnished with hairs and a few very fine 
- spines, and the abdomen pale dull yellowish brown, slightly suffused with dull black on 
the underside. The cephalothorax has its fore part very slightly compressed on its sides 
forwards; and the height of the clypeus is equal to the length of the space occupied by 
the fore and hind central pairs of eyes; the junction of the caput and thorax is slightly 
depressed, and the ordinary furrows and indentations are well marked. 
Eyes eight, on black spots, rather closely grouped in two equally divergent curved 
rows, forming an oval space; those of the hind central pair are slightly the largest, those 
of the fore central pair slightly the smallest of the eight; those of each lateral pair are, 
in the slightest possible degree, obliquely placed on a small tubercle; the distance 
between each of the fore central pair and that of the hind central pair opposite to it is 
greater than that between the two hind central eyes; the spaces between the several 
eyes of the hinder row scarcely differ in length. | 
Palpi short; the radial joint is stronger than the cubital, rounded at the extremity on 
the upper margin; a single dark bristle issues from the front of the latter, and several 
bristly hairs from the front of the former; digital joint roundish oval. Palpal organs 
rather complex, consisting of corneous spiny processes fitting pretty compactly 
together. 
Falces rather long, vertical, straight, moderately strong. 
The small size of this spider will, perhaps, sufficiently distinguish it from most other 
species; but from Neriene gracilis (Bl.), to which it seems very nearly allied, it may be 
distinguished by the greater length, and less strength at the base, of the falces, and by 
the form of the radial and digital joints of the palpi. 
The above specimen was contained in a small collection of spiders sent me by the late 
Mr. Richard Beck, and was, I believe, captured in the neighbourhood of London. 
