NERIENE. 
251 
complicated in structure, with a crescent-shaped process at the upper part, on the outer side, 
a small, bifid one at the extremity, and are of a dark red-brown colour. 
Neriene bicolor is common in many parts of England, Wales, and Scotland. It appears 
to prefer well-wooded districts, constructing among grass a snare similar to that of Neriene 
marginata. Not unfrequently it may be found on rails, or concealed under stones partially 
imbedded in earth. The male has the palpal organs developed in autumn. 
Neriene rufipes. 
Neriene rufipes, Blackw., Lond. and Edinb. Phil. Mag., third series, vol. iii, p. 345. 
— — Blackw., Research, in Zool., p. 368. 
Blackw., Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., second series, vol. ix, 
p. 20. 
Length of the female, # 3 ths of an inch; length of the cephalo-thorax, Uh, breadth, Ath; 
1 J l * 7 7 20 * 
breadth of the abdomen, ^th; length of an anterior leg, ith ; length of a leg of the third 
pair, 3 th. 
The cephalo-thorax is oval, convex, glossy, somewhat depressed and rounded before, 
and has a small indentation in the medial line ; the falces are powerful, conical, provided 
with teeth on the inner surface, and slightly inclined towards the sternum, which is heart- 
shaped ; the maxillae are enlarged at the extremity, and inclined towards the lip, which is 
semicircular and prominent at the apex; the legs are provided with hairs and a few spines, 
and the anterior and posterior pairs are equal in length ; 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 palpi have a curved claw at their extremity. These parts are of a light 
red-brown colour, the falces, sternum, lip, and maxillae being the darkest, and the eyes are 
seated on black spots. The abdomen is oviform, moderately convex above, projecting over 
the base of the cephalo-thorax ; it is thinly clothed with hairs, glossy, and of a brownish- 
black hue; and the branchial opercula, which are large, have a yellowish-white tint. 
The sexes are similar in colour, but the male is rather the smaller. The humeral joint 
of its palpi is enlarged at the extremity ; the cubital and radial joints are short; the former, 
which is the larger, has a few long bristles at its extremity, in front, and the latter has an 
obtuse process on the under side of the upper part; the digital joint is oval, with a small 
protuberance at its base, on the inner side; it is convex and hairy externally, concave within, 
comprising the palpal organs, which are highly developed, complex with spine-like processes, 
and of a dark red-brown colour. 
Specimens of this spider were obtained in 1832, under stones and on rails in the town¬ 
ship of Crumpsall. In June the female fabricates several globular cocoons of yellowish-white 
silk of a slight texture, which she attaches to the inferior surface of stones; the largest of 
them measures ^th of an inch in diameter, and contains about fifty spherical eggs of a 
yellowish-white colour, not adherent among themselves. 
