181 



The female is larger than the male, but resembles it in mark- 

 ings and colours, the latter, however, being lighter and less 

 distinct. 



This is not an uncommon spider on the trunks of ivy-covered 

 trees, as well as in old wood-stacks and outhouses, at Bloxworth, 

 and in many other localities in Dorset. It is also found in other 

 parts of England, Ireland, Scotland, and "Wales. 



LINYPHIA LEPROSA. 



Linyphia leprosa, Ohlert, Die. Aran. d. Prov. Preuss., p. 47. 

 ,, 00NFU3A, Cambr., Trans. Linn. Soc. xxvii., p. 427, pi. 

 55, No. 21, a.b.c.d.e.f.g. 



The adult male measures about l-7th of an inch in length. 



The cephalo-thorax is of a dark brownish colour, tinged with 

 yellow ; the legs are slender, armed with numerous long and 

 conspicuous spines, of a brownish-yellow hue tinged with red- 

 brown, and occasionally faintly annulated with blackish-brown. 

 The abdomen of the female is particularly convex above, and pro- 

 jects over the base of the cephalo-thorax, that of the male is 

 slenderer ; it is of a dull, shining, pale yellowish-brown colour on 

 the upper side, freckled with small whitish spots ; and along the 

 middle is a series of angular blackish lines, whose ends, in the 

 female, often form a spot or blotch. These angular lines are 

 strongest in the male, and the paler intervals then form a series 

 of curved or sbghtly angular lines. The sides are brown-black, 

 and are marked with a longitudinal curved yellowish-white 

 line, sometimes broken off in the middle, the hinder part passing 

 over the abdomen, some little distance above the spinners, and 

 meeting the corresponding lateral line on the opposite side ; the 

 under side is also brownish-black. 



The palpi are short and slender ; the cubital joint has a long, 

 slightly bent, tapering, finely pointed, prominent bristle at the 

 fore extremity on the upper side. This joint, as well as the 

 radial, is very short, but the latter is the stronger. The digital 

 joint ia rather large, and has a strongish conical prominence at 



