REV. O. P. CAMBRIDGE ON BRITISH SPIDERS. 445 
Family THERIDIIDES (BL). 
Genus THERIDION. 
THERIDION SPIRIFER, (Pl. XXXIII. no. 9.) 
Theridion spirifer, Cambr. Zoologist for 1863, p. 8574. 
This species is in general appearance much like a dull-coloured coppie of T. pul- 
chellum (Bl.) but it may be easily distinguished by the very peculiar and characteristic 
thrice or more times coiled filiform spine in connexion with the palpal organs of the male, 
lt is not rare among furze and on low trees and bushes near Winchester, in Hampshire, 
and in some parts of Dorset. 1 have met with it also in Rome, Egypt, and Palestine; 
it was also contained in a collection of spiders kindly made for me in 1867, at Cannes, 
by H. T. Stainton, Esq., of Mountsfield, Lewisham. 
THERIDION QUADRIPUNCTATUM. 
Theridion quadripunctatum, Bl. (Brit. & Ir. Spiders, p. 177, d xiii. fig. 112), v 
triste, Walck. Ins. Apt. tom. ii. p. 291. 
An adult female of a Theridion, exactly corresponding to the T. triste of Walck., but 
which 1 feel convinced is a variety only of T. 4-punctatum (Bl.), was received from Prof. 
J. O. Westwood, of Oxford, in 1870. It is of an almost uniform black colour, with a 
narrow whitish-yellow crescent-shaped border on the fore margin of the upperside, and 
an interrupted longitudinal central stripe of the same colour. Possessing already a series 
of examples of 7. quadripunctatum, graduating in depth of colour from the ordinary type 
to the colours of the present example, I entertain no doubt as to its specifie identity ; 
probably the dark colour is dependent on age. The example now recorded was found 
near Bath. 
THERIDION TRISTE. 
Theridion triste, Hahn; Die Arachn. Bd. i. p. 89, pl. 21. fig. 67; Koch, Die Arachn. Bd. viii. p. 83, 
pl. 276. figs. 653, 654; Bl. Ann. & Mag.*Nat. Hist. for 1867. 
It will not be difficult for the collector to determine this Theridion, which is of a uni- 
form sooty black all over; it may be distinguished from its nearest ally, 7. coracinum 
(Koch), also found in Britain, by the tarsi of the latter, which are either quite white or 
of a pale yellowish hue. Mr. Blackwall’s record of the occurrence of T. triste (loc. cit.) 
is the only instance of its having yet been taken in Britain. 
THERIDION ? GIBBUM. (Pl. XXXIII. no. 8.) 
Erigone gibba, Westr.? Ar. Suec. p. 279. 
Theridion projectum, Cambr. Zoologist for 1862, p. 7962. 
Pholcomma projectum, Thorell, On Europ. Spid. p. 98. ; 
Dr. Thorell, to whom 1 have lately forwarded examples of my Theridion projecium, 
assures me that, after a eareful examination of these, Mr. Westring decides them to be , 
identical with his Erigone gibba. It seems surprising that so exact a detailer of the 
` characters of minute spiders as Mr, Westring should have omitted any notice of the very 
