The four intermediate eyes form a square, the two anterior ones, which are the largest
of the eight, being seated on a protuberance; those constituting each lateral pair are placed
obliquely on a small tubercle, and are almost contiguous. The cephalo-thorax is convex,
glossy, slightly compressed before, rounded on the sides, and has an indentation in the medial
line; it is sparingly supplied with short hairs, and of a dark-brown colour. The falces are
small, conical, vertical, and armed with a few teeth on the inner surface; the maxillae are
enlarged where the palpi are inserted, and inclined towards the lip, which is semicircular;
and the sternum is heart-shaped. These parts have a reddish-brown tint. The legs are
moderately long, provided with hairs and fine spines, and are of a red-brown hue, with
brownish-black annuli; the first pair is the longest, then the fourth, and the third pair is the
shortest; the two superior tarsal claws are curved and pectinated, and the inferior one is
inflected near its base. The palpi resemble the legs in colour, and have a curved, pectinated
claw at their extremity. The abdomen is somewhat oviform, rather depressed, glossy,
sparingly clothed with hairs, and projects over the base of the cephalo-thorax; the upper
part, which is of a pale-brown colour, is encompassed by a broad, dark-brown band, which
passes above the spinners; the anterior part of this band comprises a curved, transverse,
yellowish-white line; an obscure line of the same hue extends along the middle, and a
transverse, curved, yellowish-white line occurs between the posterior part of the dark-brown
band and the spinners; a longitudinal series of small circular indentations, two pairs of which
are more conspicuous than the rest, occurs on each side of the medial line; the sides, below
the dark-brown band, and the under part have a pale-brown tin t; a band of a darker brown
colour extends along the middle of the latter, and a line of the same hue encircles the spinners;
the colour of the branchial opercula is red-brown.
The white marks on the abdomen of this spider are liable to vary in form, size, and
number.
The male is smaller than the female, but it resembles her in colour. The abdomen is
prominent at its extremity, on the under side, and there is a small transverse fold near its
middle, which connects the posterior margins of the branchial opercula. The cubital and
radial joints of the palpi are short and provided with numerous long hairs, the former, which
is rather the longer, being abruptly inflected near its base; the digital joint has a dark-brown
hue, and is somewhat oval, being obliquely truncated on the inner side, towards the extremity;
it is convex and hairy externally, concave within, comprising the palpal organs, which are
highly developed, complicated in structure, with a large crescent-shaped process at their
extremity, whose longer and more pointed limb extends a little beyond the end of the joint,
and within the crescent the slender extremity of a long, curved, pointed spine appears; their
colour is dark, reddish-brown. The convex sides of the digital joints are directed towards
each other.
Crevices in walls and rocks, and interstices among stones, are the haunts selected by this
species, which occurs in many parts of England and Wales. It pairs in May, and in June the
female constructs a globular cocoon, of yellowish-white silk, of a loose texture, measuring
three twentieths of an inch in diameter; it is usually attached to objects situated in the
vicinity of her snare, and contains about fifty spherical eggs of a pinkish colour, not
agglutinated together.
A female Theridion quadripunctatum placed in a phial which was closely corked and
locked up in a book-case, continued to exist without receiving any nutriment whatever from
the 15th of October, 1829, to the 30th of April, 1831, when it died. That so voracious an
animal should be capable of enduring abstinence from food for so long a period is certainly
an extraordinary fact.
Theridion Sisyphum. PI. XIII, fig. 113.
Tkeridion Sisyphum, Walck., Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt., tom. ii, p. 298.
__ — Latr., Gen. Crust, et Insect., tom. i, p. 97.
__ Hahn, Die Arachn., Band ii, p. 47, tab. 58, fig. 132.
__ — Blackw., Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., second series, vol. viii»
p. 338.
— lunatum, Sund., Yet. Acad. Handl., 1831, p. 111.
Theridium — Koch, Uebers. des Arachn. Syst., erstes Heft, p. 8.
— — Koch, Die Arachn., Band viii, p. 74, tab. 273, fig. 645.
— — Koch, Die Arachn., Band xii, p. 137, tab. 429, figs. 1060, 1061.
Steatoda lunata, Sund., Consp. Arachn., pp. 16, 17.
Titulus 14, Lister, Hist. Animal. Angl. De Aran., p. 53, tab. 1, fig. 14.
Length of the female, 5th of an inch; length of the cephalo-thorax, £th, breadth, ^ th ;
breadth of the abdomen, ^th; length of an anterior leg, 3rd; length of a leg of the third
pair, 3sths.
The four intermediate eyes form a square, the two anterior ones, which are the largest
and darkest of the eight, being seated on a protuberance; those of each lateral pair are placed
obliquely on a small tubercle and are nearly contiguous. The cephalo-thorax is convex,
o-lossy, slightly compressed before, rounded on the sides, and has a large indentation in the
medial line; the falces are small, conical and vertical; the maxillae are inclined towards the
lip, which is semicircular; and the sternum is heart-shaped, with small eminences on the
sides, opposite to the legs. These parts are of a red-brown colour, the sternum being the
palest and the lip the darkest. The legs are moderately long, provided with hairs, and of a
pale, reddish-brown hue, with obscure annuli of a deeper shade at the joints; the first pair is
the longest, then the fourth, 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 palpi are short, and resemble the legs in colour; the digital joint, which
is the darkest, having a curved, pectinated claw at its extremity. The abdomen is sparingly
clothed with hairs, pointed at the spinners, very convex above, and projects over the base of
the cephalo-thorax; on the upper part various shades of ferruginous, black, and yellowish-
white colours are distributed in lines, streaks, and spots; near the summit of the convexity
two long, curved, yellowish-white lines meet in an angle whose vertex is directed forwards;
before the angular point two streaks of the same hue extend towards the cephalo-thorax,
comprising between them a black space mottled with ferruginous; and within the angle there