THERIDIID^. 



65 



CASE Mamified sketch of door made by ditto. 



V. "* ^ 



Nos. 27, Magnified figure of Nemesia eleanora, a wafer-nest spider. 



28. 



Magnified sketch of door made by ditto. 



CASE Mygale detrita {Koch).—\. Sketch of insect ; 2. Specimen of ditto, taken 

 in London Docks. See above (p. 55). 



Nos. 

 I, 2. 



Theridiid^. 



The characters of this and the next group (Lycosid^), will be 

 noticed when we come to speak of them as British spiders. At 

 present we take in separately here one or two of them that are 

 not British, but have acquired an ill reputation as being dangerous 

 and venomous. They are the following, viz. : — 



Latrodectus Malmignatus (i%/r^). — 3. Enlarged figure of do. 



This spider is black, with ten blood-red spots, which are more 

 or less semilunar. It is common in some parts of the south of 

 Europe, more particularly in 

 Catalonia, and it possesses 

 the dangerous power of in- 

 flicting a poisonous wound 

 that kills small insects instan- 

 taneously, and affects the 

 larger animals seriously — man 

 himself having sometimes suc- 

 cumbed to the stroke. 



Previous to 1830 its veno- 

 mous properties appear never 

 to have been noticed or heard 

 of by any of the old inhabi- 

 tants, but in 1830, 1833, and 

 1 841 many dangerous accidents from its bite occurred, which 

 directed attention to it. The enquiries consequently made esta- 

 blished beyond doubt its venomous properties. The spider was 



Latrodectes malmignatus (slightly magnified). 



