LINYPHIA. 
243 
branchial opercula are of a dark, yellowish-brown colour, and between them there is a promi¬ 
nent, transverse fold. 
An adult male of this Linyphia was discovered among grass in a pasture at Oakland in 
September, 1845. 
Linyphia furva. 
Linyphia furva, Blackw., Linn. Trans., vol. xviii, p. 663. 
— — Blackw., Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., second series, vol. ix, p. 19. 
Length of the female, jtli of an inch ; length of the cephalo-thorax, #h, breadth, ^th; 
breadth of the abdomen, Ath; length of an anterior leg, ^ths; length of a leg of the third 
pair, ith. 
The cephalo-thorax is somewhat oval, slightly compressed before, rounded on the sides, 
convex and glossy, with an indentation in the medial line; the falces are long, powerful, 
conical, divergent at the extremity, armed with teeth on the inner surface, and inclined 
towards the sternum, which is broad and heart-shaped; the maxillae are strong, straight, 
convex underneath, and somewhat quadrate, with the exterior angle, at the extremity, curvi¬ 
linear ; the lip is semicircular and prominent at the apex. These parts have a very dark- 
brown hue, approaching to black, the falces and maxillae being the palest. The legs and 
palpi are long, slender, provided with hairs and erect spines, and of a yellowish-brown colour, 
the latter being the darker. The first pair of legs is the longest, then the second, and the 
third pair is the shortest; each tarsus is terminated by three claws; the two superior ones 
are curved and pectinated, and the inferior one is inflected near its base. The four inter¬ 
mediate eyes form a trapezoid whose anterior side is the shortest, and those of each lateral 
pair are almost contiguous ; the posterior eyes of the trapezoid are the largest, and the ante¬ 
rior ones the smallest of the eight. The abdomen is oviform, convex above, projecting over 
the base of the cephalo-thorax ; it is thinly clothed with hairs, glossy, and of a brownish-black 
colour; a small, prominent, cylindrical process is connected with the posterior margin of the 
sexual organs; and the branchial opercula have a brown tint. 
The male is rather smaller than the female, but it does not differ from her materially in 
colour. The cubital and radial joints of its palpi are short, the latter, which is much the 
stronger, being produced on the inner side ; the digital joint is somewhat oval, with a promi¬ 
nent lobe on the inner side, near its extremity; it is convex and hairy externally, concave 
within, comprising the palpal organs, which are highly developed, complicated in structure, 
with two contiguous, black, spiral spines, enveloped in delicate membrane, at their extremity, 
and are of a dark, reddish-brown colour. 
In May, 1838, both sexes of this spider were detected under stones in a moist pasture 
at Oakland. 
