1872.] SPIDERS OF PALESTINE AND SYRIA. 283 



prominent and highly developed, but not very complex ; they have a 

 strong, rather twisted, corneous process near their extremity, on the 

 outer side. 



The abdomen is oval, moderately convex above, slightly pointed 

 behind, and is of a glossy greenish-black colour, thinly spotted, both 

 above and beneath, with silvery spots of various sizes ; on the upper- 

 side two of these spots occupy the fore corners (shoulders, as it were) 

 of the abdomen ; across the middle are four others in a curved row, 

 the two central ones of which are the smallest, the end ones large and 

 sometimes duplex ; and three others form a triangle close above the 

 spinners, the apex of the triangle being directed backwards ; in one 

 example these last three spots were confluent, or rather connected 

 by streaks of the same colour ; the sides have a large oval spot for- 

 wards ; and on the underside are two more, in a transverse line be- 

 tween the spinners and the middle. 



Two examples were found under stones — an adult male at Jerusa- 

 lem, and an adult female at Hebron. 



Theridion scriptum, sp. nov. 



Male adult, length \\ line. 



This Spider is closely allied to T. acuminatum (Luc), which it 

 resemhles in form, but differs in colour and markings. 



The cephalothorax is of a uniform glossy yellow- brown colour, 

 furnished with a few longish bristly hairs on the caput, which is 

 elevated and prominent, and rises gradually, with a curved profile 

 line, from the thorax ; the clypeus is high, transversely impressed 

 below the eyes, and slightly prominent above the falces. The eyes 

 are similar in their size and position to those of T. particeps. The 

 legs are short and moderately strong, their relative length 4, 1, 2, 3; 

 and their colour is yellow-brown, suffused with blackish brown 

 beneath the tibice ; the tarsi and metatarsi are dark brown ; and the 

 femora are also suffused with the same, giving the legs a broadly 

 banded appearance ; they are furnished with hairs, some of which 

 are of a bristly nature, and a few on the upperside are erect. 



The palpi are short ; the cubital joint is nodiform ; and the radial 

 is very short, but broad and spreading at its fore extremity; the 

 digitals are large, and have their convex sides directed towards each 

 other : the palpal organs are well developed and prominent, but not 

 very complex ; at their extremity are two well-defined corneous 

 prominences, one short, obtuse, and perpendicular, the other long 

 and bent both downwards and backwards and with a sharp spiny 

 point near the extremity of the shorter one. The falces, maxillce, 

 labium, and sternum are similar to those of T. particeps, and are 

 of the same colour as the cephalothorax. 



The abdomen is oval, broad before, and rather pointedly produced 

 behind ; the fore part is high, and, looked at in profile, falls away 

 gradually in a curved line to the spinners (some females, however, 

 are, when distended with ova, of the ordinary form) ; it is of a dark 

 glossy black-brown colour, marked above with some bold but dull 

 yellow markings ; these are plainer on the female than on the male ; 



