size; the four intermediate ones form a square, the two anterior ones being the darkest and
rather the largest of the eight; those constituting each lateral pair are seated on a small
tubercle, and are contiguous. The abdomen is sparingly clothed with hairs, very convex
above, and projects greatly over the base of the cephalo-thorax; along the middle of the
upper part there extends a broad, dark, red-brown band, having sinuous margins, which is
bordered anteriorly with pale-yellow; the sides have a lighter shade of red-brown, and the
colour of the under part is yellow, tinged with green, a broad, longitudinal, dark, red-brown
band occupying the medial lin e ; a small, pale, curved, prominent process is connected with
the sexual organs; and the branchial opercula have a yellow tint.
In colour the sexes closely resemble each other; but the male is rather smaller and
darker than the female, and the relative length of its legs is different, .the second pair being
longer than the fourth. The cubital and radial joints of the palpi are short; the latter, which
is the stronger, projects an acute apophysis from its extremity, on the under side, and has a
protuberance on the outer side, with which several long bristles are connected; the digital
joint is of an oblong oval form, convex and hairy externally, concave within, comprising the
palpal organs; these organs are moderately developed, complicated in structure, having an
obtuse, projecting process in contact with the protuberance on the outer side of the radial
joint, and two fine spines at their extremity, one o f which is curved into a circular form;
their colour is dark, reddish-brown. The digital joints of the palpi have their convex sides
directed towards each other.
In summer and autumn this species may be found on rails and gates about Oakland.
The plan of its snare is similar to that on which the snares of other Theridia are constructed.
In June the female deposits about twenty-nine spherical eggs of a yellowish-white colour, not
adherent among themselves, in a globular cocoon of white silk, of a fine but compact texture,
measuring one eighth of an inch in diameter. Near the cocoon, which is sometimes attached
to the under side of a leaf by fine lines of silk, she takes her station, and on the approach of
danger endeavours to secure her treasure by seizing it with her falces, palpi, and feet.
Theridion Carolintjm. PI. XIV, fig. 123.
Theridion Carolinum, Walck., Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt., tom. ii, p. 315.
— — Blackw., Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., second series, vol. viii,
p. 444.
— dorsiger, Hahn, Die Arachn., Band i, p. 82, tab. 20, fig. 61 (misnumbered
60 in the plate).
IAnyphia bimaculata, Xoch, Uebers. des Arachn. Syst., erstes Heft, p. 10.
Length of the female, ^th of an inch; length of the cephalo-thorax, ^th, breadth, ^ th ;
breadth of the abdomen, ^th; length of an anterior leg, ?th; length of a leg of the third
pair, |th.
The eyes are seated on a small eminence; the four intermediate ones form a square, the
two anterior ones, which are placed on a protuberance, being the smallest, and the two
posterior ones the largest of the eigh t; those constituting each lateral pair are seated on a
small tubercle, and are contiguous. The cephalo-thorax is convex, glossy, compressed before,
rounded on the sides, and has an indentation in the medial line ; the falces are conical and
vertical; the lip is semicircular, and the sternum is heart-shaped, with small prominences
on the sides, opposite to the legs. The colour of these parts is red-brown, with the exception
of the extremity of the lip, and an irregular spot on each side of the cephalo-thorax, which
have a yellowish-white tint. The maxillae are enlarged at the base, where the palpi are
inserted, inclined towards the lip, and of a yellowish-white hue, with an irregular, red-brown
spot on the outer side. The legs are long, slender, provided with hairs and a few erect spines,
and have a yellowish-white tint; 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 curved, pectinated claw at their extremity. The abdomen is subglobose,
thinly covered with hairs, and projects over the base of the cephalo-thorax; it is of a red-
brown colour, with a pale-yellow band in the medial line of the upper part, which is broadest
at the anterior extremity, and tapers to the spinners; the sexual organs are prominent, of a
red-brown hue, and have an obtuse, black process in connexion with them, which projects
forwards towards the sternum; the colour of the branchial opercula is yellowish-brown.
The male, according to the description given of it by M. Koch in Herrich Schaffer’s
‘ Deutschlands Insecten,’ Heft 127, is smaller than the female, and its abdomen, which is
more cylindrical, is curved downwards at the posterior extremity, and almost black; the
yellow, longitudinal band, also, on the upper part is much smaller, and bisected transversely.
Its legs are longer than those of the other sex, and have somewhat of a reddish-yellow hue ;
and the palpi are long, and of a dark-brown colour, the digital joint excepted, which is black,
with a yellowish, curved extremity; the colour of the palpal organs (der Knoten) is chesnut-
brown.
This rare spider has been taken among grass near woods at Oakland, and has also been
captured in Essex by Mr. R. H. Meade. In June the female fabricates a globular cocoon of
white silk, of a slight texture, measuring one tenth of an inch in diameter, in which she
deposits about fifty spherical eggs, of a pale, yellowish-white colour, not agglutinated together.
The cocoon is attached to the spinners by short silken lines, and is transported with her
wherever she goes, in the manner of the Lycosce.
Theridion versutum. PL XIV, fig. 124.
Theridion versutum, Blackw., Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., vol. xviii, p. 302.
— — Blackw., Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., second series, vol. viii,
p. 444.
Length of the male, Igths of an inch ; length of the cephalo-thorax, |th, breadth, nth ;
breadth of the abdomen, ^5th ; length of an anterior leg, §ths ; length of a leg of the third
pair, ssths.