230 
LINYPHIIDiE. 
Linyphia tenuis. PI. XVI, fig. 152. 
Linyphia tenuis, Blackw., Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., second series, vol. ix, p. 18. 
■— pusilla, Blackw., Research, in Zook, p. 392. 
Length of the female, T ' 5 th of an inch; length of the cephalo-thorax, Hid, breadth, ^th; 
breadth of the abdomen, 5 ' 5 th; length of an anterior leg, ^ths; length of a leg of the third 
pair, gth. 
The cephalo-thorax is somewhat oval, slightly compressed before, rather prominent 
in front, where the eyes are situated, convex and glossy, with an indentation in the 
medial line, the falces are powerful, conical, armed with teeth on the inner surface, 
and slightly inclined towards the sternum, which is heart-shaped; the maxillae have 
the exterior angle, at their extremity, curvilinear; and the lip is semicircular. These 
parts are of a dark-brown colour, the lip and the lateral margins of the cephalo-thorax being 
the darkest, and the falces and maxillae having a faint tinge of red. The eyes are seated on 
black spots; the four intermediate ones describe a trapezoid whose anterior side is the 
shortest, and those of each lateral pair are placed obliquely on a small tubercle, and are 
contiguous; the posterior eyes of the trapezoid are the largest, and the anterior ones, which 
are seated on a protruberance, are the smallest of the eight. The legs are long, slender, 
provided with hairs and line, erect spines, and of a yellowish-brown colour; the first pair is 
the longest, the second pair slightly surpasses the fourth, and the third pair is the shortest; 
each tarsus is terminated by three claws; the two superior ones are curved and slightly pec¬ 
tinated, and the inferior one is inflected near its base. The palpi resemble the legs in colour. 
The abdomen is oviform, glossy, thinly clothed with hairs, pointed at the spinners, convex 
above, and projects over the base of the cephalo-thorax ; it is of a light-brown colour, thickly 
freckled with pale yellowush-white on the upper part, and has a series of curved, angular,, 
black lines extending along the middle, which have their convex sides towards each other, 
their extremities greatly enlarged, and their vertices directed forwards ; the sides and under 
part have a brownish-black tint; a longitudinal, slightly curved, pale yellowish-white linn 
occurs on the anterior half of the former, and a semicircular one of the same hue passes above 
the spinners; the sexual organs have a light yellowish-brown septum in the medial line, which 
is enlarged at its posterior part, and a very minute process in connexion with their inferior 
margin ; the colour of the branchial opercula is yellowish-brown. 
The form of the male is slighter, and its colour is darker than that of the female. The 
cubital and radial joints of its palpi are short, the latter being very strong, and prominent at 
its extremity, in front; the digital joint is somewhat oval, with a lobe on the outer side; it is 
convex and hairy externally, concave within, comprising the palpal organs, which are highly 
developed, complicated in structure, and of a dark red-brown colour. 
The specific name of this spider has been changed from pusilla to tenuis, the former 
appellation having been previously conferred on a small Swedish linyphia hy Professor 
Sundevall (‘Yet. Acad. Handl.,’ 1829, p. 214.) 
Linyphia tenuis is of frequent occurrence among grass and under stones, and is widely 
distributed in England, Wales, and Scotland. 
