Theridion lineatüm. PI. XIII, fig. 111.
Theridion lineatüm, Walck., Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt., tom. ii, p. 285.
— Blackw., Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., second series, vol. viii,
p. 337.
redimitum, Latr., Gen. Crust, et Insect., torn. i, p. 97.
. S — Hahn, Die Arachn., Band i, p. 86, tab. 21, fig. 65.
ovatum, Sund., Vet. Acad. Handl., 1831, p. 113.
Theridium redimitum, Koch, Die Arachn., Band xii, p. 133, tab. 427, figs. 1053—•
1055.
Steatoda redimita, Koch, Uebers. des Arachn. Syst., erstes Heft, p. 9.
Titulus 12, Lister, Hist. Animal. Angl. De Aran., p. 51.
Length of the female, jth of an inch; length of the cephalo-thorax, Ath, breadth, ^th;
breadth of the abdomen, |t h ; length of an anterior leg, ^ths; length of a leg of the third
pair, *th.
The eyes are seated on black spots; four, which are intermediate, form a square, the
two anterior ones being rather the smallest of the eight, and those constituting each lateral
pair are placed on a tubercle and are almost contiguous. The cephalo-thorax is convex,
glossy, compressed before, rounded on the sides, and has a large indentation in the medial
line; the falces are conical, vertical, and armed with a few teeth on the inner surface; the
maxillae are inclined towards the lip, which is semicircular; and the sternum is heart-shaped;
the legs are long and slender; the first pair is the longest, then the fourth, and the third pair
is the shortest. These parts, with the palpi, which are short, are of a pale-yellowish colour,
faintly tinged with green; the cephalo-thorax has fine, black, lateral margins, and a dark,
obscure band extending along the middle; the sternum also has fine, black, lateral margins,
and a medial line of the same hue; and the anterior legs have a black annulus at the
extremity of the tibia. The two superior tarsal claws are curved and pectinated, and the
inferior one is inflected near its base. Each palpus has a curved, pectinated claw at its
extremity. The abdomen is subglobose, glossy, sparingly supplied with hairs, very convex
above, and projects over the base of the cephalo-thorax; it is of a pale, yellowish-white
colour, with a dark, ramified line extending along the middle of the upper part, and two rows
of small, black, indented spots on each side, which converge to the spinners, the outer row
being usually the more conspicuous; two black spots occur on each side of the spinners, and
a broad black band occupies the middle of the under part; the sexual organs, which are
small, have a dark, reddish-brown hue; and the colour of the branchial opercula is yellow,
their posterior margin having a reddish-brown tint.
Two handsome varieties of Theridion lineatüm have been described by arachnologists as
distinct species. One, Theridion redimitum, has a line of a carmine hue on the upper part of
the abdomen, which describes a large oval; and the other, Theridion ovatum, has the entire
oval space of a carmine colour.
The male is smaller than the female, which it resembles in colour, but its legs are longer,
an anterior one measuring nine sixteenths of an inch. The falces are long, widely divergent
at the extremity, provided with a large, pointed process near the base, on the under side, and
are terminated by a long fang abruptly curved near its extremity. The radial joint of the
palpi is larger than the cubital and clavate; the digital joint is oval, convex and hairy
externally, concave within, comprising the palpal organs, which are moderately developed,
complicated in structure, with a curved, black spine on the outer side, and a shorter one at
the extremity, and are of a red-brown colour. The convex sides of the digital joints are
directed towards each other.
This common spider, remarkable for its variation in colour, spins among coarse herbage
and the stems of shrubs numerous fine, glossy lines, intersecting one another in different planes
and at various angles, which constitute a snare similar in design to the toils constructed by
the Theridia generally. It pairs in June, and in July the female deposits about 170 spherical
eggs, of a yellowish-white colour, not agglutinated together, in a globular cocoon of bluish-
white, blue, or greenish-blue silk, of a loosish texture, measuring one fourth of an inch in
diameter. The cocoon is enclosed in a slight tissue of white silk connected with the inferior
surface of the leaves of trees and shrubs, the edges of which are convolved about it and are
retained in that position by silken lines. The young remain a long time in this nidus with
the female, and are supplied by her with food.
M. Koch, in transferring that variety of Theridion lineatum named redimitum to the genus
Steatoda of Professor Sundevall (‘Conspectus Arachnidum,’ pp. 16, 17), lapsed into an
inconsistency which M. Walckenaer has pointed out in his ‘Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt./
t. ii, p. 288, and which he himself has subsequently corrected.
This species abounds in Scotland and Ireland.
Theridion quadripunctatum. PI. XIII, fig. 112.
Theridion quadripunctatum, Walck., Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt., tom. ii, p. 290.
— Hahn, Die Arachn., Band i, p. 78, tab. 20, fig. 58.
— — Sund., Vet. Acad. Handl., 1831, p. 118.
— — Blackw., Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., second series,
vol. viii, p. 337.
Steatoda quadripunctata, Sund., Consp. Arachn., pp. 16, 17.
Eucharia bipunctata, Koch, Uebers. des Arachn. Syst., erstes Heft, p. 7.
' \' / — Koch, Die Arachn., Band xii, p. 99, tab. 418, fig. 1027.
Phrurolithus omatus, Koch, Die Arachn., Band vi, p. 114, tab. 208, fig. 515.
Titulus 11, Lister, Hist. Animal. Angl. De Aran., p. 49, tab. 1, fig. 11.
Length of the female, ?th of an inch; length of the cephalo-thorax, 5th, breadth, ^ th ;
breadth' of the abdomen, ^ths; length of an anterior leg, !rd; length of a leg of the third
pair, 3th.