204 
THERIDIIDiE. 
eyes of each lateral pair are seated on a small tubercle, and are contiguous. The falces are 
powerful, conical, armed with a few minute teeth on the inner surface, rather inclined towards 
the sternum, and of a dark-brown hue. The maxillae have a red-brown tint, with a dark- 
brown mark on the outer side; they are pointed at the extremity, and encompass the lip, 
which is triangular, black at the base, and of a red-brown hue at the apex. The sternum is 
oblong heart-shaped, of a pale, red-brown colour, and has irregular, brownish-black marks on 
the margins. The legs are long and slender, with a row of curved spines on the anterior side 
of the tibial, metatarsal, and tarsal joints of the first and second pairs, those on the meta¬ 
tarsal joint being much the longest; both the legs and palpi have a pale, yellowish-brown 
tint, and are marked w r ith numerous dark-brown annuli. 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 palpi have a curved, pectinated claw at their extremity. The abdomen is very 
convex above, projecting over the base of the cephalo-thorax; it is thinly clothed with long, 
coarse hairs, and is variegated with black, red, and white ; on the upper part, rather nearer to 
the anterior than to the posterior extremity, there are two tubercles, which are black in front, 
and of a pale, yellowish-white hue behind; the prevailing tint of the part before the tubercles 
is black, and of that behind them, which comprises two transverse, black streaks, connected 
in the middle, red; the sexual organs have a reddish-brown hue; a small process connected 
with their anterior margin is directed backwards, and on each side of its extremity there is a 
minute, glossy convexity of a deeper shade; the colour of the branchial opercula is yellow. 
The sexes are similar in colour, but the male is smaller than the female. Its palpi have 
a yellowish hue, that of the digital joint and palpal organs being brownish; the radial joint is 
much longer than the cubital, and somewhat spindle-shaped; the digital joint is oval, promi¬ 
nent, and rather pointed at the base, broader at the extremity, convex and hairy externally, 
concave within, comprising the palpal organs, -which are moderately developed, complicated in 
structure, with a bold, bilobed process in contact with the prominent base of the joint, a 
black, filiform spine curved round their inner side, and two curved, pointed, prominent pro¬ 
cesses at their extremity. 
In the fourth volume of his c Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt.,’ p. 496, M. Walckenaer has very 
properly added the name Theridion callens, conferred on a small spider described in the 
1 Transactions of the Linnean Society,’ and the Ero variegata of M. Koch to the synonyma of 
Theridion variegatum. 
This species occurs among grass growing in and near -woods, in the west of Denbighshire, 
and in Yorkshire; and Mr. J. Hardy has taken it in Berwickshire. The female fabricates a 
very remarkable balloon-shaped cocoon, about one eighth of an inch in diameter, which is com¬ 
posed of soft silk, of a loose texture and pale-brown colour, inclosed in an irregular network of 
coarse, dark, red-brown filaments; several of the lines composing this network unite near the 
smaller extremity of the cocoon, leaving intervals there through which the young pass when they 
quit it, and being cemented together throughout the remainder of their extent, form a slender 
stem, varying from one tenth to half an inch in length, by which the cocoon is attached to the 
surface of stones and fragments of rock, resembling in figure and position some of the minute 
plants belonging to the class Cryptogamia. The eggs are large, considering the small size of 
the spider, from five to eight in number, not agglutinated together, and of a brown colour. 
