THERIDION. 
195 
maxillae are inclined towards the lip, which is somewhat triangular; the sternum is heart- 
shaped, and the legs and palpi are provided with hairs and fine spines. These parts are of a 
yellowish-white colour, the legs and palpi being the palest; the sternum has a tinge of green, 
and a broad, dark-brown band extends along the middle of the cephalo-thorax. The first pair 
of legs is the longest, then the fourth, 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 near its base. The four intermediate eyes form a square, the two anterior 
ones being seated on a protuberance; those constituting each lateral pair are placed 
obliquely on a small tubercle, and are contiguous. The abdomen is subglobose, sparingly 
clothed with short hairs, and projects greatly over the base of the cephalo-thorax; it is of a 
pale-yellow colour, mottled with spots of a lighter hue; there are several dark-brown spots at 
the anterior extremity of the upper part, two transverse, confluent, dark-brown streaks on each 
side, near the middle, the anterior one of which is the longer and somewhat curved, and an 
obscure, longitudinal streak of the same hue occurs immediately above the spinners; on the 
under part two oblique bands, of a dull-greenish colour, converge towards the sexual organs, 
the margins of which are black ; and the branchial opercula have a pale-yellow tint. The 
dark-brown marks on the upper part of the abdomen are subject to some modification of form 
in different individuals, and almost disappear after the female has deposited her eggs. 
The male differs from the female in various particulars; it is smaller, the second pair of 
legs is longer than the fourth, and the colour of these organs, with that of the sternum and 
cephalo-thorax, is yellowish-brown, a broad, brownish-black band, whose margins are the 
darkest, extending along the middle of the last part. The falces, maxillm, and lip have a 
pale, reddish-brown tint. The palpi resemble the legs in colour, with the exception of the 
digital joint, which has a dark-brown hue ; the cubital and radial joints are short and strono- 
the latter being most prominent on the outer side; the digital joint is oval, convex and hairy 
externally, concave within, comprising the palpal organs; these organs are highly developed, 
and have a strong spine on the outer side, which is curved into a circular form, and terminates 
m an obtuse projection at their extremity; they are of a dark, red-brown colour. The convex 
sides of the digital joints are directed towards each other. The abdomen is somewhat 
depressed, moderately convex above, and projects over the base of the cephalo-thorax; the 
upper part has a brownish-black tint; the colour of the sides and under part is pale-yJllow, 
the former being almost white at their anterior extremity; and each branchial operculum is 
surrounded by an irregular, black line. 
Bushes and coarse herbage growing in the vicinity of woods in Lancashire and Denbigh¬ 
shire are frequented by this minute species of Theridion. It pairs in May, and in June the 
female deposits about twenty spherical eggs, of a pale-yellowish colour, in a pyriform cocoon 
having several conical prominences disposed in a circle round its greatest circumference; it is 
composed of fine, compact, white silk, and measures three twentieths of an inch in length and 
one tenth in diameter. 
The dissimilarity of the sexes in structure and colour has occasioned the male to be 
described in the ‘ London and Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine 3 as an Tpeira, under the 
specific name of nubila; a careful investigation of its habits and economy, subsequently made, 
has led to the correction of this error. 
Mr. R. Templeton has found Theridion pollens in Ireland. 
