564 
Annual Report of New York 
The legs are long and slender, the first pair being longest and the second pair next, 
the third being slightly shorter than the fourth pair. They are ornamented with a 
a black band on the tips of all the shanks except the third pair. 
The female incloses lier eggs in a globular ball of a white color, 
two-tenths of an inch in diameter. 
The Underleaf Spider, Theridion hypophyllum. Another spider, 
a pretty little species, occurs on the under side ot the same lea\ es 
with the preceding, and is about half as numerous. It probably 
feeds upon the young cabbage worms, but I have no positive evidence 
that it does so. 'Though it is no larger than the preceding species, it is 
much more conspicuous from its bright colors. Its forebody and 
thighs are bright cherry red, its globular abdomen is black and shin¬ 
ing* and four punctures or impressed points are seen upon the forepart 
of its back, at the angles of a square, whereof the hind side is longest. 
Its legs are black or blackish, and more short and thick than in the 
foregoing species. The chelicefs of the male are large and black. 
This is a common species, and inhabits the under side ot the leaves 
of forest trees, as well as those of garden vegetables. I have also 
met with it repeatedly on the surface of the snow in forests, on mild 
days in winter. On the leaves of trees, I have noticed it feeding on 
plant lice. 
This lovely little spider 1 have sometimes thought might perhaps 
be a variety of the Theridion roscidum of Prof. Hentz. It, how¬ 
ever, is quite constant in its colors, and I have never met with a 
specimen having spots on the abdomen, as is called for by the descrip¬ 
tion of that species. 
These cabbage worms are also destroyed by some of the rapacious 
burrs of the order Hemiptera, insects which are commonly recognized 
hyUie flattened form of their bodies, and the disgusting bed-bug odor 
which they emit. Though most of these bugs subsist upon the 
juices of vegetables, several of the species, with their sharp needle- 
iike beaks, pierce the larvae of other insects, and suck out the fluid 
contents of their bodies. Some of these predaceous bugs become 
residents of the cabbage patch, upon discovering the ample supply ot 
food which is there presented them. One of them, in its larva, its 
pupa or its perfect state, may occasionally be seen standing on the 
edo-e of a cabbage leaf, with a worm hanging downward from its 
beak, dead, flaccid and doubled together. It is occupied about six 
hours in sucking the fluids of one of these large worms, and this 
meal usually suffices it for forty-eight hours, after which another 
worm becomes its victim. 
