PHOLCUS. 
207 
The male is rather smaller and darker coloured than the female. The cubital and radial 
joints ot its palpi are short; the latter, which is the stronger, is prominent on the inner side 
and in front, several long bristles being connected with the frontal prominence; the digital 
joint is of a long, irregular oval form, having a projection on the outer side, and two 
smaller ones on the upper part, near its articulation with the radial joint; it is convex and 
hairy externally, concave within, comprising the palpal organs, which are highly developed, 
complicated in structure, and of a red-brown colour; a strong, corneous spine, enveloped in 
a delicate, transparent membrane, originates in the superior part of these organs, and, bending 
downwards, extends along their inner side a little beyond the termination of the digital joint, 
its extremity being curved outwards. 
Theridion filipes is allied to the spiders belonging to the genus Neriene by the disposition 
and relative size of its eyes, and to those of the genus Linyphia by the length and delicacy of 
its limbs; but the structure of its maxillae and the relative length of its legs have caused it to 
be classed with the Theridia. It occurs under stones in woods in Denbighshire, Lancashire, 
and Berwickshire. 
An adult female of this species, captured in March, 1835, presented an anomaly in 
organization very unusual in this order of animals; it had a supernumerary eve situated 
between the two small ones constituting the anterior pair of the trapezoid. 
M. Walckenaer has inadvertently placed the Linyphia concolor of M. Wider, which is 
identical with Theridion filipes, among the synonyma of Argus yraminicolis, having previously 
described it as a distinct species under the name conferred upon it by M. Wider ( £ Hist. Nat. 
des Insect. Apt.,’ t. ii, pp. 270, 351). 
Genus PHOLCUS ( Walck ). 
Eyes seated on an anterior prominence of the cephalo-thorax; three, closely grouped on 
each side, form a compact triangle, and the other two, placed transversely between the 
triangles, are the smallest of the eight. 
Maxilla long, narrow, tapering from the dilated base to the extremity, and inclined 
towards the lip. 
Lip large, contracted at the base, dilated in the middle, and rounded at the apex. 
Leys very long and slender; the first pair is the longest, then the second or fourth, and 
the third pair is the shortest. 
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