LINYPHIA. 
225 
projecting over the base of the ceplialo-thorax; it is of a pale yellowish-brown colour, 
marked with black lines ; one, curved in front and passing to the sides, has its extremities 
enlarged, and several short, longitudinal ones, slightly inclined towards each other, extend, 
in pairs, along the middle of the upper part, about half of its length, the first pair uniting 
before in the curved, frontal line; between them and the spinners there are two parallel rows 
of oblique lines whose anterior extremities nearly meet, and a few irregular lines, diverging 
from those near the medial and posterior regions, extend to the sides; on the under part, 
near its connexion with the cephalo-thorax, there is a small, transverse, black streak, and in 
the middle two oblique, black lines occur, which almost unite near the spinners, but diverge 
widely and abruptly at their anterior extremities ; the spinners have a yellowish-brown tint; 
a pair of small, black spots is situated on each side of them, near their base, and a larger 
one, of a triangular form, underneath; the branchial opercula are whitish; and the colour 
of the sexual organs is red-brown. 
The male is smaller and darker coloured than the female, and its legs have a redder hue, 
the black annuli with which they are marked being fewer and less distinct. The palpi have 
a pale red-brown tint; the humeral joint is long, and the cubital and radial joints are short, 
the latter being the stronger; the digital joint is somewhat oval, with a very large, prominent 
process at the base, which is curved downwards, and an angular projection near the middle 
of the outer side; it is convex and hairy externally, concave within, comprising the palpal 
organs ; they are highly developed, complicated in structure, with a strong, black, prominent 
process at the upper part, on the inner side, which is directed downwards, and has an obtuse 
projection on its upper side ; a very prominent, membranous, semitransparent process, curved 
and black at its point, is situated a little lower, on the same side ; and opposite to it, on the 
outer side, there is an erect, black spine, pointed and slightly curved at its extremity, and 
having a prominent, bilobed process at the upper part of its base, and the point of a long, 
black spine, which is curved under the processes on the inner side, in contact with its lower 
part; these organs are of a red-brown colour. The convex sides of the digital joints are 
directed towards each other. 
On examining specimens of this spider in the summer of 1834, it was found to possess 
the essential characters of a Linyphia, and was described in the £ Researches in Zoology ’ as 
new to science, under the specific name of pallidiila. Since then it has been ascertained that 
M. Walckenaer had included it among the Thendia, in his ‘Tableau des Araneides/ p. 75, 
and that Professor Sundevall had previously described it in his excellent publications in this 
department of zoology. 
Linyplda crypticolens is met with in North Wales under stones, and in cellars, vaults, and 
other obscure, damp places. In June or July the female constructs a globular cocoon of 
yellowish-brown silk of a loose texture, measuring one-sixth of an inch in diameter; it is 
commonly attached to her spinners by fine lines, and contains about ninety-eight spherical 
eggs of a brown colour, not adherent among themselves- 
