7964 Arachnida. 



darkest. Thus part, when in spirits of wine, seems to be mottled 

 with paler depressed spots, arranged with some regularity in 

 transverse rows. The female differs from the male only in wanting 

 the projecting edge round the abdomen. 



1 .found an adult male of this very minute but most remarkable 

 Theridion at the roots of heath, at Bloxworth, Dorset, in April, 1861, and 

 shortly after, an adult and three immature females in a similar position 

 on another part of the heath. By the position of the eyes this species 

 seems to be allied to the genus Pholcus, though in general form and 

 appearance it is much more like the true Theridia. 



Family Linyphiim. 

 Neriene corticea. 

 Cephalothorax blackish brown, with an olive-green tinge ; it has a 

 deepish transverse dip or depression about the centre. Abdomen 

 black. Legs and palpi yellowish brown. Eyes of the hind row 

 equal in size and equidistant from each other; end ones of front 

 row largest, and centre ones smallest, of the eight. Radial joint 

 of palpi has a tuft of strong bristly black hairs on its upper side, 

 which is rather protuberant ; at its extremity in front is a strong 

 projection or elongation projecting obliquely outwards over the 

 base of the digital joint, and ending in the form of a crescent, 

 of which the limb nearest the tuft of hairs is the shortest and 

 smallest. 



Adultjnale. Length, 1 -sixteenth of an inch. Length of cephalo- 

 thorax, ] -thirty-fifth. Breadth, 1-fortieth. Relative length of 

 legs, 4, 1, 2, 3. 



Cephalothorax of a blackish brown colour, tinged with olive-green ; 

 margin edged with black ; the hinder part slopes very abruptly 

 in a hollowish line, and about halfway between the top of the 

 slope and the eyes is a strong transverse dip or depression, and 

 an indentation in the medial line of the hinder part; a single 

 row of a few long bristly hairs, directed forwards, occupies the 

 medial line, and there are some shorter ones in the region of 

 the eyes. 



Eyes, on black spots, in two rows curved away from each other, on 

 the front of the cephalothorax ; the front row is the most 

 curved, and rather the shortest ; the eyes of the hinder row are 

 of the same size, and at equal distances from each other; the 

 central ones of the front row arc the smallest, and the end ones 



