206 
THERIDIlDiE. 
The sexes resemble each other in the design formed by the yellow marks on the 
abdomen, but the female is rather larger than the male, and is without strong spines on 
the legs. 
Some difference of opinion has existed among arachnologists as to the position this 
spider should occupy in a systematic arrangement of the Araneidea ; but there does not appear 
to be any sufficient reason for removing it from the Theridia, to which it seems to be most 
nearly allied by its organization. 
In Denbighshire, this species is found among heath, but it is of rare occurrence. The 
radial and digital joints of the palpi are so closely connected in the male, as scarcely to 
present any perceptible trace of their union; in short, as they appear to be incapable of 
separate motion, there seems to be an impropriety in regarding them as distinct joints. 
Theridion filipes. PI. XIY, fig. 136. 
Theridion filipes, Blackw., London and Edinb. Phil. Mag., third series, vol. viii, 
p. 484. 
— — Blackw., Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., second series, vol. viii, 
p. 447. 
Linyphia concolor, Wider, Museum Senekenb., Band i, p. 267, taf. 18, fig. 3. 
— — Walck., Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt., tom. ii, p. 270. 
Length of the female, jth of an inch; length of the cephalo-thorax, ~th, breadth, Ath ; 
breadth of the abdomen, ^th; length of an anterior leg, ^ths; length of a leg of the third 
pair, |jths. 
The four intermediate eyes form a trapezoid, whose anterior side is the shortest, and those 
constituting each lateral pair are seated on a small tubercle, and are contiguous; the pos¬ 
terior eyes of the trapezoid are the largest, and the anterior ones much the smallest of the 
eight. The cephalo-thorax is oval, convex, glossy, with an indentation in the medial line; 
the falces are powerful, conical, armed with teeth on the inner surface, rather divergent at the 
extremity, and inclined towards the sternum, which is heart-shaped; the maxillae are enlarged 
at the base, where the palpi are inserted, obliquely truncated at the extremity, on the outer 
side, and inclined towards the lip, which is semicircular and prominent at the apex; the legs 
and palpi are long, slender, and provided with hairs and some fine erect spines. These parts 
have a brown colour, the falces and maxillae being tinged with red. 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 slightly pectinated, and the inferior one is 
inflected near its base. The abdomen is oviform, convex above, and projects over the base 
of the cephalo-thorax; it is thinly clothed with hairs, glossy, and of a brown-black colour, 
tinged with olive ; a long, slender, cylindrical, semitransparent process, directed backwards, 
is connected with the sexual organs; and the colour of the branchial opercula is dark-brown. 
Some individuals have a series of obscure, pale, angular lines, whose vertices are directed 
forwards, extending along the middle of the upper part of the abdomen. 
