214 
LINYPHIIDiE. 
breadth of the abdomen, jth; length of an anterior leg, |Jhs; length of a leg of tne third 
pair, ~ 5 ths. 
The legs are long, slender, provided with numerous fine, erect spines, and of a yellowish- 
brown colour, with brownish-black annuli; each tarsus is terminated by three claws; the 
two superior ones are curved and pectinated, and the inferior one is inflected near its base, 
which is furnished with one or two very small teeth. The palpi resemble the legs in colour, 
and have at their extremity a slightly curved claw, minutely dentated about a third of its 
length from the base. The cephalo-thorax is oval, glossy, prominent before, and depressed 
on the sides, which are marked with slight furrows converging towards a large indentation in 
the medial line; the falces are strong, conical, armed with teeth on the inner surface, and 
inclined towards the sternum, which is heart-shaped; the maxillae are somewhat quadrate, 
having the exterior angle at the extremity curvilinear; the lip is short, semicircular, and 
prominent at the apex. These parts have a very dark-brown tint, the sternum, which is the 
darkest, being almost black. The four intermediate eyes describe a trapezoid whose anterior 
side is the shortest, and those of each lateral pair are seated on a small tubercle, and are 
almost contiguous ; the posterior eyes of the trapezoid are the largest, and the anterior ones 
the smallest of the eight. The abdomen is oviform, sparingly clothed with short hairs, 
convex above, and projects over the base of the cephalo-thorax; the upper part is of a 
brownish-black colour, bordered by a broad, irregular, brown band which passes above the 
spinners, but whose continuity is interrupted in front by a black bar intersecting it at right 
angles; this band is very thickly spotted with white anteriorly, the white spots on the pos¬ 
terior part being fewer, smaller, and intermixed with some blackish ones; an indistinct series 
of curved, angular lines, of a brown colour, having their convex sides towards each other 
and their vertices directed forwards, extends along the middle, and above the spinners there 
are several small, yellowish-white spots; the sides are of a brown colour, minutely spotted 
with white, and a curved, brownish-black band extends from the anterior part of each nearly 
half way towards the spinners; the under part has a dark-brown hue, with four minute, 
yellowish-white, compound spots, forming a large quadrangle; the sexual organs, which are 
prominent and cylindrical, have a brownish-black tint; and the colour of the branchial 
opercula is brown. 
The male is slenderer and darker coloured than the female, and has one tooth on the 
inner surface of each falx much larger than the rest. The cubital and radial joints of its 
palpi are short, the latter, which is much the stronger, being produced at its extremity, on 
the inner side, and fringed with long bristles on the outer side of the upper part; the digital 
joint is oval, convex and hairy externally, concave within, comprising the palpal organs, 
which are highly developed, complicated in structure, with a strong, prominent, curved, 
seale-like process on the inner side, which ends in a point directed obliquely downwards and 
outwards, and a spiral spine at their extremity, terminated by a delicate, fringed membrane; 
at the base of the spiral spine, on its outer side, there is an expanded, projecting, transparent 
membrane, slightly fringed at its margin; the colour of these organs is dark reddish-brown. 
In its habits and economy this species resembles liny phi a montana, fabricating in low 
bushes or among coarse herbage an extensive snare, similar in design to the toils constructed 
by the Linyphice generally. It pairs in May, and in June the female spins one or two len- 
