LINYPHIA. 219 
Length of the female, 5 th of an inch; length of the cephalo-thorax, nth, breadth, ^>th; 
breadth of the abdomen, T ' 3 th; length of an anterior leg, T 3 5 ths; length of a leg of the third 
pair, 1 th. 
The legs are slender, provided with hairs and erect spines, and of a reddish-brown hue, 
with black annuli; each tarsus is terminated by three claws; the two superior ones are 
curved and minutely pectinated, and the inferior one is inflected near its base. The palpi 
resemble the legs in colour, and have a slightly pectinated, curved claw at their extremity. 
The cephalo-thorax is convex, glossy, compressed and rather prominent before, rounded on 
the sides, with an indentation in the medial line, and has a dark-brown tint. The falces are 
strong, conical, vertical, and armed with teeth on the inner surface; the maxillae are straight, 
and nearly quadrate, having the exterior angle, at the extremity, curvilinear; and the lip is 
semicircular and prominent at the apex. These organs have a dark red-brown colour. The 
sternum is heart-shaped, and of a very dark-brown hue, approaching to black. The four 
intermediate eyes form a trapezoid whose anterior side is the shortest, and those of each lateral 
pair are seated obliquely on a tubercle, and are contiguous; the two posterior eyes of the 
trapezoid are the largest, and the two anterior ones the smallest of the eight. The abdomen 
is oviform, glossy, thinly clothed with hairs, convex above, projecting over the base of the 
cephalo-thorax; the upper part is of a pale-brown colour, minutely spotted with yellowish- 
white ; along the middle there extends a series of strongly marked, brownish-black, angular 
lines, having their vertices directed forwards, and a little above the spinners there is an 
irregular, transverse, curved, yellowish-white line; the sides and under part are of a 
brownish-black hue, the former being marked with a slightly curved, yellowish-white line, 
which extends from the anterior part rather more than half-way towards the spinners; the 
sexual organs are prominent, a flesh-coloured process connected with their anterior margin 
being enlarged at its extremity and directed backwards; and the colour of the branchial 
opercula is yellowish-white. 
The sexes do not present any very remarkable differences in colour, but the male is 
smaller and slenderer than the female. The cubital and radial joints of its palpi are short, a 
strong bristle projecting from a small prominence situated at the extremity of the former, in 
front; the digital joint is somewhat oval, having two conical processes near its articulation 
with the radial joint; it is convex and hairy externally, concave within, comprising the palpal 
organs, which are highly developed, prominent, complex with spine-like processes, and are of 
a red-brown colour. The convex sides of the digital joints are directed towards each other. 
The interior of buildings, shrubs trained against walls, crevices in the bark of old trees, 
and lichens growing upon their trunks and branches are the haunts frequented by this 
common spider, which is widely distributed in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. In 
September the female constructs several subglobose cocoons of white silk of a slight texture, 
the largest of which measures about one fifth of an inch in diameter, and contains from thirty 
to forty spherical eggs of a yellowish-white colour. The cocoons are generally attached to 
objects situated near the snare. 
