190 
THERIDIIDiE. 
Theridion tinctum. PI. XIV, fig. 121. 
Theridion tinctum, Walck., Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt., tom. ii, p. 308. 
Theridium irroratum, Koch, Die Arachn., Band iv, p. 120, tab. 141, fig. 327. 
Length of the female, T ' B th of an inch; length of the cephalo-thorax, T ' B th, breadth, ,',th ; 
breadth of the abdomen, T ’ 5 th; length of an anterior leg, T 3 s ths; length of a leg of the third 
pair, !,ths. 
The legs are long, slender, provided with hairs, and fine, erect spines, and are of a 
yellowish-white colour, with black spots and annuli; the first pair is the longest, then the 
second, and the third pair is the shortest; each tarsus is terminated by three claws; the two 
superior ones are curved and pectinated, and the inferior one is inflected at its base. The palpi, 
which are short, resemble the legs in colour, and have a small, curved, pectinated claw at their 
extremity. The cephalo-thorax is slightly compressed before, rounded on the sides, convex, 
g-lossv, and has an indentation in the medial line; it is of a yellowish-white hue, with several 
black spots on the lateral margins, a transverse line of the same hue on the frontal margin, 
which is broadest in the middle, and a triangular, soot-coloured mark, with pale, brownish- 
yellow intermixed, whose base comprises the posterior row of eyes, and whose vertex ter¬ 
minates at the medial indentation. The eyes, which are seated on black spots, are disposed 
in two transverse rows on the anterior part of the cephalo-thorax; the four intermediate ones 
form a square, the two anterior ones, which are placed on a protuberance, being the largest 
and darkest of the eight; the eyes of each lateral pair are seated obliquely on a tubercle, 
and are near to each other, but not in contact. The falces are conical, vertical, and armed 
with a few minute teeth on the inner surface; they are of a pale, brownish-yellow hue, 
tinged with red at the extremity, and have a short, black, longitudinal streak at their base, 
on the inner side. The maxillae are obliquely truncated at the extremity, on the outei side, 
and are inclined towards the lip, which is triangular, but rounded at the apex. The former 
of these organs have a brownish-yellow hue, and that of the latter is dark-brown, being palest 
at the apex. The sternum is heart-shaped, and of a yellowish-white colour, with black spots 
on the sides, and a streak of the same hue extending from the posterior extremity, along the 
middle, nearly its entire length. The abdomen is subglobose, thinly clothed with hairs, 
projects over the base of the cephalo-thorax, and is of a pale-yellow colour; a black band, 
curved round its anterior extremity, extends to the sides, and projects from its middle an 
angular point, directed upwards; on each side of the medial line of the upper part there is a 
row of black spots, confluent or nearly so, which extends to the spinners; the two anterior 
spots are much the largest, and when united at their base, which is usually the case, desci'ibe 
two contiguous triangles, whose vertices are directed forwards; in the dentated, pale-yellowish 
space comprised between the two rows of black spots there are several angular, soot-coloured 
lines, whose vertices are directed forwards; and a few oblique streaks of the same hue pass 
from the spots to the sides ; a spot situated before the sexual organs, a triangular one behind 
them, on each side of which there is a short, oblique streak, and two minute ones near the 
base of the inferior spinners have a black hue; the sexual organs, which are moderately 
