180 
THERIDIIDiE. 
are two yellowish-white spots on a black ground, each of which is succeeded by an oblique 
line of the same hue, directed towards the anus; above the spinners a large, oval, ferruginous 
space occurs, and the colour of the sides is ferruginous mingled with black; the under part 
has a dark-brown tint, with a pale-yellow spot above the outer margin of each branchial 
operculum, another immediately below the sexual organs, and an irregular, transverse bar of 
the same hue nearer to the spinners; the colour of the sexual organs is brownish-black, and 
that of the branchial opercula dull, reddish-brown. 
The male is much smaller, darker coloured, and less distinctly marked than the female. 
The cubital and radial joints of its palpi are short; the digital joint is oval, with a pointed 
process at its base, which falls into a notch in the radial joint; it is convex and hairy 
externally, concave within, comprising the palpal organs, which are highly developed, 
prominent, complicated in structure, and have a curved process at their extremity which 
projects beyond the end of the joint; their colour is red-brown. 
This species occurs in the south of England, and was observed by Lister in Cambridge¬ 
shire, Lincolnshire, and Yorkshire. He remarks that it fabricates an extensive snare on the 
trunks of large oaks and between the greater branches of trees; and that towards the end of 
June the female usually constructs in this snare a dome-shaped cell, whose concavity is 
directed downwards, in which she deposits one or more lenticular cocoons, of a red-brown 
colour, containing her eggs. 
Theridion tepidariorum. PI. XIII, fig. 114. 
Theridion tepidariorum, Blackw., Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., second series, vol. xi, 
p. 117. 
Theridimn — Koch, Die Arachn., Band viii, p. 75, tab. 273, fig. 646; 
tab. 274, figs. 647, 648. 
Length of the female, 1th of an inch; length of the cephalo-thorax, T ’ 5 th, breadth, T Uh; 
breadth of the abdomen, 1th; length of an anterior leg, T 7 0 ths; length of a leg of the third 
pair, r 0 ths. 
The four intermediate eyes form a square, the two anterior ones, which are the largest 
and darkest of the eight, being seated on a protuberance; those constituting each lateral pair 
are placed on a small tubercle, and are nearly contiguous. The cephalo-thorax is convex, 
glossy, slightly compressed before, rounded on the sides, and has a large indentation in the 
medial line; the falces are small, conical, and vertical; the maxillae are inclined towards the 
lip, which is semicircular; and the sternum is heart-shaped, with small eminences on the 
sides opposite to the legs. These parts are of a dark, reddish-brown colour; the falces, 
maxillae, and lip being the palest. The legs are long, provided with hairs, and of a yellowish- 
brown hue, with dark-brown annuli; the first pair is the longest, then the fourth, and the 
third pair is the shortest; the two superior tarsal claws are curved and pectinated, and the 
inferior one is inflected near its base. The palpi are short, of a pale, yellowish-brown colour, 
