Araneides of the United States. 281 
distinguished. It is very common under stones, logs, or clods 
of earth, where it makes a web, the threads of which are so 
powerful as to arrest the largest hymenopterous insects, such 
as humble-bees. Its bite, if I can rely on the vague descrip- 
tion of physicians unacquainted with entomology, is some- 
what dangerous, producing alarming nervous disorders, which, 
however, are readily dispelled by brandy and other stimulants. 
There is no doubt that all spiders have a poison conveyed in 
the fang of their cheliceres, but in this case these organs are 
very small in proportion to the size of the spider, and, it would 
seem, are barely long enough to penetrate through the epi- 
dermis of a man’s hand or foot.! The male, whose palpi have 
the black coil or penis external and very easily observed, is 
distinguished from the male of Theridion lineatum by that 
character, by its longer and slender legs, and by the white 
spots on the sides of the abdomen, which are not elongated 
in the form of lines. It has always been found on the top of 
weeds in a small web, and never under stones near the 
female. The cocoon is yellowish cinereous, of an ovoid form, 
and suspended by its pointed extremity. 
Habitat. North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, 
6. 
24. THERIDION LINEATUM. 
Plate X. Fig. 3. 
Description.  Cephalothorax blackish ; abdomen deep pur- 
ple, or reddish black, with several diagonal white lines, and a 
Succession of red spots edged with yellow, and sometimes 
United in the form of a band ; a red spot underneath also ; 
feet blackish, usually varied with yellow, 1. 4. 2. 3. Male 
With the same markings. 
Observations, "This very common species is usually found 
under stones, logs, or clods, always near the ground. It 
Serves as a prey to those singular hymenopterous insects, 
usually called in the South, dirt daubers, which enclose in 
O3 See Règne Animal, IV. 945A. mactans. 
