The four intermediate eyes form a square, the two anterior ones, which are the darkest
and rather the smallest of the eight, being seated on a protuberance ; those constituting each
lateral pair are placed on a small tubercle, and are contiguous. The cephalo-thorax is
convex, glossy, slightly compressed before, rounded on the sides, and has an indentation in
the medial lin e ; the falces are powerful, conical, and vertical. Both parts are of a brown
colour, faintly tinged with red. The maxillae are convex at the base, and greatly inclined
towards the lip, which is semicircular, and the sternum is heart-shaped. These parts are of
a brown hue, tinged with yellow, the extremities of the maxillae being yellowish-white. The
legs are long, slender, provided with hairs, and of a pale, yellowish-brown colour ; 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 have a pale, yellowish-brown tin t; the radial joint is
larger than the cubital, and is produced on the outer side ; this elongation is rounded at the
extremity, and applies very closely to the digital joint, which is oval, convex and hairy
externally, concave within, comprising the palpal organs; they are moderately developed,
complicated in structure, with a prominent process on the inner side, and a strong, curved
spine at the extremity, whose slender point is in contact with a delicate, white membrane, and
are of a reddish-brown colour. The abdomen is oviform, sparingly covered with hairs,
convex above, projecting over the base of the cephalo-thorax; the upper part is black, with
a large, white, crescent-shaped mark at its anterior extremity, and three longitudinal rows of
white spots, one on each side, and the other extending along the middle, which diminish in
size as they approach the spinners ; the under part has a yellowish tint, freckled with black;
and the colour of the branchial opercula is pale-yellow.
The specimen from which the foregoing description was made was captured in the neighbourhood
of Winchester, in July, 1846, by James Franklin Preston, Esq., and was comprised
in a1 collection of Araneidea, made by that gentleman in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
Theridion pallens. PI. XIV, fig. 125.
Theridion pallens, Blackw., Research, in Zool., p. 357.
__ _ Blackw., Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., second series, vol. viii,
p. 445.
— minimum, Wider, Museum Senckenb., Band i, p. 249, taf. 17, fig. 2.
-7- Walck., Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt., tom. ii, p. 320.
Epeira nubila, Blackw., Lond. and Edinb. Phil. Mag., third series, vol. x, p. 101.
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 cephalo-thorax is convex, glossy, slightly compressed before, rounded on the sides,
and has an indentation in the medial line; the falces are small, conical, and vertical; the
maxillæ are inclined towards the lip, which is somewhat triangular ; the sternum is heart-
shaped, and the legs and palpi are provided with hairs and fine spines. These parts are of a
yellowish-white colour, the legs and palpi being the palest ; the sternum has a tinge of green,
and a broad, dark-hrown hand extends along the middle of the cephalo-thorax. The first pair
of legs is the ISngest, 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 four intermediate eyes form a square, the two anterior
ones being seated on a protuberance; those constituting each lateral pair are placed
obliquely on a small tubercle, and are contiguous. The abdomen is:' suhglohose, sparingly
clothed with short hairs, and projects greatly over the base of the cephalo-thorax; it is of a
pale-yellow colour,, mottled with spots of a lighter hue ; there are several dark-brown spots at
the anterior extremity of the upper part, two transverse, confluent, dark-hrown streaks on each
side, near the middle, the anterior .of which is the longer and somewhat curved, and an
obscure, longitudinal streak of the same hue occurs immediately above the spinners; on the
under part two oblique bands, of a dull-greenish colour, converge towards the sexual organs,
the margins of which are black ; and the branchial opercula have a pale-yellow tint. The
dark-hrown marks on the upper part of the abdomen are subject to some modification of form
in different individuals, and almost disappear after the female has deposited her eggs.
The male differs from the female in various particulars ; it is smaller, the second pair of
legs is longer than the fourth; and the colour of these organs, with that jpj the sternum and
cephalo-thorax, is yellowish-brown, a broad, brownish-black band, whose margins are the
darkhst, extending along the middle of the last part. The falces, maxillæ, and lip have a
pale, reddish-brown tint. The palpi resemble the legs in colour, with the exception of the
digital joint, which has a dark-hrown hue ; the cubital and radial joints are short and strong,
the latter being most prominent on the outer side; the digital joint is oval, convex and hairy
externally, concave within, comprising the palpal organs ; these organs are highly developed,
and have a strong spine on the outer side, which is curved into a circular form, and terminates
in an obtuse projection at their extremity ; they are of a dark, red-brown colour. The convex
sides of the digital joints are directed towards each other. The abdomen is somewhat
depressed, moderately convex above, and projects over the base of the cephalo-thorax; the
upper part has a brownish-black tint; the colour of the sides and under part is pale-yellow,
the former being almost white at their anterior extremity ; and each branchial operculum is
surrounded by an irregular, black line.
Bushes and coarse herbage growing in the vicinity of woods in Lancashire and Denbighshire
are frequented by this minute species of Theridion. It pairs in May, and in June the
female deposits about twenty spherical eggs, of a pale-yellowish colour, in a pyriform cocoon,
having several conical prominences disposed in a circle round its greatest circumference ; it is
composed of fine, compact, white silk, and measures three twentieths of an inch in length, and
one tenth in diameter.
The dissimilarity of the sexes in structure and colour has occasioned the male to be
described in the ( London and Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine ’ as an Epëira, under the
specific name of nubila; a careful investigation of its habits and economy, subsequently made,
has led to the correction of this error.
Mr. R. Templeton has found Theridion pallens in Ireland.
(il
1 I