368 
EPBIRIML 
at the apex, which has a reddish-brown tint, the colour of the base being dark-brown. The 
sternum is of an oblong heart-shape, with small eminences on the sides, opposite to the legs, 
and is of a dark-brown colour, with a pale reddish-brown, longitudinal streak in the middle. 
The legs are long, slender, provided with hairs and a few fine, erect spines, and have a pale 
yellowish-brown hue; 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, which aie 
slender, resemble the legs in colour, and have a curved, pectinated claw at their extremity. 
The abdomen is long, somewhat cylindrical, thinly clothed with short, fine hairs, and projects 
over the base of the cephalo-thorax; its colours are green, yellowish-green, and black, dis¬ 
posed in longitudinal bands; extending along the middle of the upper part there is a green 
band, which comprises a fine black line that gives off short lateral streaks of the same hue, 
the anterior ones crossing it at right angles, and the posterior ones being diiected obliquely 
backwards, and on each side of the green band there is a broad band of yellowish-green , the 
under part has a green hue, with a black band along the middle, on each side of which theie 
is a narrow band of yellowish-green; the colour of the branchial opercula and spinners is 
brown, and a fine brownish line passes from the latter obliquely along each side to the upper 
part. This species varies greatly in colour. The cephalo-thorax of the young, when about 
half grown, has a blackish band of a triangular form, whose vertex is directed backwards, 
extending along the middle; and the lateral margins, with several triangular marks projecting 
from them towards the centre, are of the same hue; their legs, also, have black annuli at the 
joints, and in other particulars they differ considerably from adults, but their peculiarities of 
structure and habit at once serve to distinguish them from every other British spider. 
The male is smaller, lighter coloured, and less distinctly marked than the female, but its 
legs are longer, an anterior one measuring 1 inch; its falces, which are long and slender, have 
a fine, prominent, tooth-like process, inflected at the point, and a short, obtuse one situated 
near their extremity, in front, and the penultimate tooth of the upper row on their inner 
surface is much larger than the rest. The radial joint of the palpi is longer than the cubital, 
and clavate ; the digital joint consists of two narrow, membraneous parts, covered with hairs 
externally, the shorter of which has a small but bold process on the inner margin, neai its 
base; with these parts the palpal organs are connected; they are moderately developed, 
glossy, subglobose at the base, and terminate in two prominent, curved, black spines en¬ 
veloped in membrane, and are of a reddish-brown colour. 
This is the only species belonging to the genus Tetragnatlia which has been found in 
Great Britain and Ireland. It frequents damp localities, constructing among bushes and 
plants in the vicinity of brooks, ditches and pools a slight net, having a circular aperture at 
the centre. The specific name, extensa, has reference to its habit of extending the first and 
second pairs of legs forwards and the posterior pair backwards, in a line with the body. 
In June the female attaches to some object near her snare a subglobose cocoon, about 
one-fifth of an inch in diameter, composed of fine silk of a loose texture, which is either 
whitish with small tufts of a dull-green colour on its exterior surface, or else is of a dull- 
green colour with whitish tufts. The eggs deposited in different cocoons vary greatly in 
number ; but there are seldom fewer than sixty or more than 214 in a single set; they are 
spherical, of a pale yellow colour, and are agglutinated together in a subglobose mass. 
