92 



strawberries in my garden in June and July, by which time the 

 female has generally deposited her eggs. It has also occurred at 

 Glanvilles Wootton, and is at times very abundant on tho sand 

 Kills near Southport, in Lancashire. 



THERIDION PALLENS. 



Theridion pallens, Blackw., Spid., Great Brit, and Irel., p. 

 184, pi. xiv., fig. 125. 



Adidt malo length l-14th or l-15th of an inch, the female 

 being rather larger. 



This very minute, but common, spider is found in early summer 

 on low plants, shrubs, bushes, and on the lower boughs of large 

 oak trees. 



The general colour is'pale yellow, blotched with white, and 

 with some dark, blackish markings. The male has a broad, central 

 longitudinal, blackish band on the cephalo-thorax, and the fore- 

 part (sometimes the whole) of the abdomen is black, or more or 

 less suffused with it. The abdomen of the female is nearly 

 globular ; it is often without any dark markings, and is seldom 

 so darkly, or so distinctly, marked as that of the male ; when 

 present, the markings are sometimes so arranged as to leave a 

 largo, whitish-yellow ^cross occupying the whole of the upper 

 side. The egg cocoon is perfectly white, of a short pear shape, 

 with several subconical prominences towards its largor end, giving it 

 a very distinct and peculiar character ; it is fastened by silken lines 

 to the under side of a leaf, where it may be found after mid- 

 summer, and very often (until the young are hatched) with the 

 parent spider in close attendance. I find this pretty little cocoon 

 frequently undor tho loaves of laurols in my shrubbery, and the 

 adult males are often found running in sunshine on the upper 

 bar of the iron railings fencing the lawn. 



Theridion pallens occurs throughout the ' South and Midland 

 Counties of England, as well as in Scotland and Wales, and is 

 probably generally distributed. 



