- 
194 
THERIDIIDtE 
The four intermediate eyes form a square, the two anterior ones, which are the darkest 
and rather the smallest of the eight, being seated on a protuberance ; those constituting each 
lateral pair are placed on a small tubercle, and are contiguous. The cephalo-thorax is 
convex, glossy, slightly compressed before, rounded on the sides, and has an indentation in 
the medial line ; the falces are powerful, conical, and vertical. Both parts are of a brown 
colour, faintly tinged with red. The maxillae are convex at the base, and greatly inclined 
towards the lip, which is semicircular, and the sternum is heart-shaped. These parts are of 
a brown hue, tinged with yellow, the extremities of the maxillae being yellowish-white. The 
legs are long, slender, provided with hairs, and of a pale, yellowish-brown colour; the first 
pair is the longest, then the fourth, and the third pair is the shortest; each tarsus is termi¬ 
nated by three claws; the two superior ones are curved and pectinated, and the inferior one 
is inflected near its base. The palpi have a pale, yellowish-brown tint; the radial joint is 
larger than the cubital, and is produced on the outer side ; this elongation is rounded at the 
extremity, and applies very closely to the digital joint, which is oval, convex and hairy 
externally, concave within, comprising the palpal organs; they are moderately developed, 
complicated in structure, with a prominent process on the inner side, and a strong, curved 
spine at the extremity, whose slender point is in contact with a delicate, white membrane, and 
are of a reddish-brown colour. The abdomen is oviform, sparingly covered with hairs, 
convex above, projecting over the base of the cephalo-thorax; the upper part is black, with 
a large, white, crescent-shaped mark at its anterior extremity, and three longitudinal rows of 
white spots, one on each side, and the other extending along the middle, which diminish in 
size^as they approach the spinners ; the under part has a yellowish tint, freckled with black; 
and the colour of the branchial opercula is pale-yellow. 
The specimen from which the foregoing description was made was captured in the neigh¬ 
bourhood of Winchester, in July, 1846, by James Franklin Preston, Esq., and was comprised 
in a collection of Araneidea, made by that gentleman in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. 
Theridion pallens. PI. XIV, fig. 125. 
Theridion pattens, Blackw., Research, in Zool., p. 357. 
— — Blackw., Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., second series, vol. viii, 
p. 445. 
— minimum. Wider, Museum Senckenb., Band i, p. 249, taf. 17, fig. 2. 
— — Walck., Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt., tom. ii, p. 320. 
Epeira nubila, Blackw., Lond, and Edinb. Phil. Mag., third series, vol. x, p. 101. 
Length of the female, -,1th of an inch ; length of the cephalo-thorax, J-tli, breadth, j 5 th; 
breadth of the abdomen, ^th; length of an anterior leg, 4th; length of a leg of the third 
pair, ^th. 
The cephalo-thorax is convex, glossy, slightly compressed before, rounded on the sides, 
and has an indentation in the medial line; the falces are small, conical, and vertical; the 
