NERIENE. 
281 
Probably the spider named Neriene graminicolens in the * Transactions of the Linnean 
Society/ vol. xix, p. 125, is a variety of this species, from which it differs chiefly in not having 
dark annuli on the legs and palpi. 
The contraction and expansion of the dorsal vessel are very apparent in Neriene gramini¬ 
colens, which occurs among grass and coarse herbage in pastures at Oakland, and seems to 
be identical with the Linyphia cellulana of Professor Sundevall (Vet. Acad. Handl., 1831, 
p. 108). 
Neriene rubella. PI. XIX, fig. 194. 
Neriene rubella, Blackw., Linn. Trans., vol. xviii, p. 648. 
— — Blackw., Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., second series, vol. ix, 
p. 271. 
Micryphantes isabellinus, Koch, Die Arachn., Bandviii, p. 109, tab. 282, figs. 676-678. 
Length of the female, -ith of an inch; length of the cephalo-thorax, ) 0 th, breadth, 5 ’,th ; 
breadth of the abdomen, ^th; length of an anterior leg, 5 3 s ths ; length of a leg of the third 
pair, ith. 
The first and fourth pairs of legs, which are the longest, are equal in length, 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 cephalo-thorax is 
convex, glossy, compressed and rather prominent before, rounded on the sides, and has an 
indentation in the medial line; the falces are powerful, conical, armed with teeth on the inner 
surface, and inclined towards the sternum, which is broad, convex, and heart-shaped. These 
parts, with the maxillae and palpi, are of a yellowish-red colour, the legs and palpi being the 
palest, and the lip, which is semicircular and prominent at the apex, has a red-brown tint. 
The eyes are seated on black spots, and the anterior ones of the four forming the trapezoid are 
much the smallest of the eight. The abdomen is oviform, glossy, thinly clothed with hairs, 
convex above, projecting over the base of the cephalo-thorax, and has a yellowish-red tint, 
which varies greatly in intensity in different individuals; the hue of the sexual organs is black, 
faintly tinged with red; and that of the branchial opercula is dull-yellow. 
The male resembles the female in colour, but the anterior part of its cephalo-thorax, where 
the eyes are seated, is more prominent, and the relative length of its legs is different, the first 
pair being the longest, and the second and fourth pairs equal in length; the tibiae also of the 
first and second pairs are somewhat dilated underneath, near their extremity, and these enlarge¬ 
ments are thickly clothed with long, fine hairs. The palpi are of a yellowish-red colour, with 
the exception of the radial and digital joints, which have a reddish-brown hue; the cubital 
joint is remarkably large, very protuberant on the inner side, and provided with an acute 
apophysis in front, near the outer side; the radial joint is crescent-shaped, the lower and much 
the longer limb of the crescent being turned outwards, in front of the digital joint, which is 
oval, convex and hairy externally, concave within, comprising the palpal organs ; these organs 
