THERIDION. 
189 
red-brown septum in the middle, and their posterior margin is triangular, prominent, and 
black; the colour of the branchial opercula is pale-yellow. This spider, as its name imports, 
varies greatly in colour. The female becomes paler after she has deposited her eggs, and 
the brownish-black spot between the sexual organs and the spinners is then frequently almost 
obliterated. 
The male is smaller and somewhat darker coloured than the female, and its falces are 
gibbous at the base, in front. Its abdomen is oviform, convex above, and has a very 
prominent, transverse fold near the middle of the under part. The colour of its palpi is 
yellowish-brown, with the exception of the radial and digital joints, which have a dark-brown 
hue; the radial joint is smaller than the cubital, and is produced on the outer side; the 
digital joint is oval, convex and hairy externally, concave within, comprising the palpal 
organs; these organs are highly developed, complicated in structure, with a strong, black, 
prominent, crescent-shaped process towards the inner side, a fine spine near the middle, which 
is curved downwards, and a short, pointed process at the extremity extending a little beyond 
the end of the joint ; they are of a red-brown colour. The convex sides of the digital joints 
are directed towards each other. 
Theridion varians occurs in localities similar to those frequented by Tlieridion denticulatum, 
and is a common British spider. It pairs in June, and in July the female constructs several 
globular cocoons, of dull, white silk, of a very loose texture, the largest of which measures 
about one seventh of an inch in diameter; they are attached to objects situated near the 
upper part of the snare, and contain, according to their size, from twenty to sixty spherical 
eggs, of a vellowish-white colour, not adherent among themselves. Withered leaves, dried 
moss, and particles of indurated earth are generally disposed about the cocoons. 
On the 14th of June, 1852, an adult female of this species was captured at Oakland, 
which had only six eyes; the two posterior intermediate ones were entirely wanting, and the 
posterior eye of each lateral pair had not half of the usual size. An inexperienced observer 
might be induced by the symmetrical arrangement of the organs of vision in this individual, 
not only to give it a place in the tribe Senoculina, but also to propose a new genus for its 
reception. 
Of the three figures of Theridion varians, 1056, 1057, and 1058, given by M. Koch, in 
the twelfth volume of 1 Die Arachniden,’ M. Walckenaer has placed the first and second 
among the synonyma of Tlieridion denticulatum, and the third among those of Theridion tinctum ; 
he has also referred to fig. 1056 as a portrait of a female, whereas it most unequivocally repre¬ 
sents a male (‘ Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt.,’ t. iv, pp. 489, 490). With due deference to the 
opinion of so accomplished an arachnologist as M. Walckenaer, there does not appear to be 
any sufficient reason to question the accuracy of the view taken by M. Koch. 
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