brownish-black band, intersected by several white lin e s; the sides have a brownish or
greenish-yellow hue, and are densely mottled with white at the upper part, contiguous to the
outer margin of the brownish-black bands; an obscure, red-brown line extends in a sharp
curve from their anterior extremity to the under part, which has a dull-yellow or greenish-
yellow tin t; a brownish-black angular line, having its vertex directed forwards, is situated
immediately before the sexual organs, and a spot of the same hue occurs near the spinners;
the sexual organs are small, and of a dark, reddish-brown colour; and the branchial opercula
have a yellow tint. This species varies in colour, some individuals being much darker than
others, but the white lines which intersect the brownish-black bands on the upper part of
the abdomen are generally present.
The sexes are similar in colour, but the male is smaller than the female, and the design
on its oviform abdomen is less distinctly marked. The colour of its palpi is yellowish-brown,
with the exception of the digital joint, which has a dark, reddish-brown tin t; the humeral
joint is very gibbous near the base, on the outer side, and on this enlargement there are
numerous short, black spines, each of which is terminated by a fine hair; the cubital and
radial joints are short, the latter being produced at its extremity, on the outer sid e; the
digital joint is oval, convex, and hairy externally, concave within, comprising the palpal
organs, which are moderately developed, not very complex in structure, and of a dark,
reddish-brown colour. The convex sides of the digital joints are directed towards each
other.
A complex snare, having somewhat of a pyramidal form, is spun on trees, shrubs, gorse-
bushes, and heath, by this common spider, which is widely distributed in Great Britain and
Ireland. It pairs in June, and in July the female constructs a globular cocoon of dull-green
silk, of a loose texture, measuring one eighth of an inch in diameter, which includes from
thirty to forty small, yellowish-white, spherical eggs, not adherent among themselves. This
cocoon is placed under a shallow, dome-shaped canopy of silk, about which withered leaves,
flowers, and the remains of insects are accumulated; it is situated among the foliage near
the upper part of the snare, and in this nidus the young live amicably together with the female
till they are capable o f providing for themselves, when they separate.
Like its congeners, this species envelops with lines drawn from the spinners by means
of the posterior legs such insects as are too powerful for it to attack when first entangled in
its toils.
Theridion pictum. PI. XIII, fig. 117.
Theridion pictum, Walck., Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt., tom. ii, p. 304.
— — Walck., Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt., tom. iv, p. 489.
— — Hahn, Die Arachn., Band i, p. 90, tab. 22, fig. 68.
— Blackw., Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., second series, vol. xiv,
p. 31.
Steatoda —• Koch, Uebers. des Arachn. Syst., erstes Heft, p. 9.
Theridium — Koch, Die Arachn., Band xii, p. 139, tab. 429, figs. 1062, 1063.
The legs are long, particularly those of the anterior pair, and have a yellowish-brown
hue, with dark-brown annuli; 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 resemble the
legs in colour, and have a small, curved, pectinated claw at their extremity. The cephalo-
thorax is convex, glossy, compressed before, and rounded on the sides, which are marked
with slight furrows converging towards a large indentation in the medial line ; its colour is
yellowish-brown, with broad, dark-brown, lateral margins, and a band of the same hue
extending along the middle, which is contracted behind the cephalic region, and somewhat
irregular in outline. The four intermediate eyes form a square ; the two anterior ones are
seated on a protuberance, and are the largest and darkest of the eight ; those of each lateral
pair are placed obliquely on a small tubercle and are contiguous. The falces are conical and
vertical ; and the maxillæ are convex at the base, obliquely truncated at the extremity, on the
outer side, and inclined towards the lip. These organs have a reddish-brown tint. The lip
is semicircular, and of a dark-brown hue. The sternum is of an elongated heart-shape, with
minute prominences on the sides, opposite to the legs ; it is glossy, and of a yellowish-brown
colour, the margins, with the exception of the frontal one, having a dark-brown hue. The
abdomen is oviform, sparingly clothed with short hairs, convex above, and projects over the
base of the cephalo-thorax ; the upper part is of a dark-brown colour, freckled with yellowish-
brown, and a large, acutely dentated, red band, finely bordered with yellow, extends along
the middle ; this band tapers from its anterior part, which is triangular, to the spinners ; the
sides are of a pale-brown hue, freckled with yellowish-brown ; the under part is of a brownish-
black colour ; and that of the branchial opercula is yellow ; the sexual organs have a reddish-
brown hue, and their posterior margin is prominent.
The male is smaller and slenderer than the female, but it resembles her in the design
formed by the distribution of its colours. Its palpi, which are short, have a brownish-yellow
hue, the digital joint being the darkest, and the colour of the palpal organs is red-brown.
Two adult females of this handsome Theridion were received from the Rev. Hamlet
Clark in October, 1853. Both specimens were captured at Richmond in the autumn of the
same year by Mr. George Guyon ; and an adult male was contributed by Mr. R. H. Meade.
Theridion denticulatum. PI. XIII, fig, 118.
Theridion denticulatum, Walck., Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt., tom. ii, p. 305.
— — Blackw., Linn. Trans., vol. xix, p. 124.
__ — Blackw., Annals and Mag. of Nat. History, second series,
vol. viii, p. 443.
Length of the female, |th of an inch ; length of the cephalo-thorax, 55th, breadth, ^th ;