... 
200 
THERIDIIDjE. 
Theridion guttatum. PI. XIV, fig. 131. 
Theridion guttatum,, Wider, Museum Senckenb., Band i, p. 241, taf. 16, fig. 7. 
— .— Walck., Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt., tom. ii, p. 318. 
Theridium — Koch, Die Arachn., Bandviii, p. 81, tab. 275, figs. 651, 652. 
Length of the female, ^th of an inch; length of the cephalo-thorax, 5 ’ 5 th, breadth, 5 ,th; 
breadth of the abdomen, ^,th; length of an anterior leg, ith; length of a leg of the third 
pair, ith. 
The abdomen is subglohular, somewhat pointed at the spinners, glossy, thinly clothed 
with hairs, and projects over the base of the cephalo-thorax; it is of a brown-black colour, 
with a row of five pale-yellow spots in the medial line of the upper part, a row of three spots 
of the same hue on each side, and the colour of the branchial opercula and spinners is brown. 
The cephalo-thorax, sternum, and abdomen, are thickly marked with conspicuous punctures. 
The cephalo-thorax is oval, convex, glossy, and somewhat prominent in the cephalic region; 
the falces are short, conical, and vertical; the maxillae are pointed at the extremity, and 
greatly inclined towards the lip, which is semicircular; and the sternum is broad, convex, 
and heart-shaped. These parts are of a very dark-brown colour. The eyes are disposed on 
the anterior part of the cephalo-thorax in two transverse rows; the four intermediate ones 
nearly form a square, those of the posterior pair being rather wider apart than those of the 
anterior pair, which are seated on a protuberance, and are the darkest of the eight; the eyes 
of each lateral pair are placed obliquely on a small tubercle, are rather the largest of the 
eight, and are contiguous. The legs are slender, provided with hairs, and of a yellowish-red 
colour, with dark-brown annuli, the annulus at the extremity of the tibia being the broadest 
and darkest; the first pair 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 palpi resemble the legs in colour, and 
have a small, curved, slightly pectinated claw at their extremity. 
The sexes are similar in colour, but the anterior part of the cephalo-thorax of the male 
is more prominent, its legs are proportionally longer, and its abdomen is smaller, than those 
of the female. The cubital, radial, and digital joints of its palpi have a brown hue; the 
cubital joint is enlarged at its extremity; the radial joint is produced towards the outer side, 
and overlaps the base of the digital joint, which is oval, convex and hairy externally, concave 
within, comprising the palpal organs ; these organs are highly developed, complex in structure, 
with a prominent, obtuse, light-coloured process near their extremity, on the inner side, at 
the base of which, towards the outer side, there are two minute, curved, black spines, and 
their colour is reddish-brown. 
The Rev. O. P. Cambridge found adult and immature specimens of Theridion guttatum 
at Hursley, near Winchester, and at Bloxworth, in the summer of 1860. 
