eyes of each lateral pair are seated on a small tubercle, and are contiguous. The falces are
powerful, conical, armed with a few minute teeth on the inner surface, rather inclined towards
the sternum, and of a dark-brown hue. The maxillae have a red-brown tint, with a dark-
brown mark on the outer side; they are pointed at the extremity, and encompass the lip,
which is triangular, black at the base, and of a red-brown hue at the apex. The sternum is
oblong heart-shaped, o f a pale, red-brown colour, and has irregular, brownish-black marks on
the margins. The legs are long and slender, with a row of curved spines on the anterior side
of the tibial, metatarsal, and tarsal joints of the first and second pairs, those on the metatarsal
joint being much the longest; both the legs and palpi have a pale, yellowish-brown
tint, and are marked with numerous dark-brown annuli. The first pair of legs 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 curved, pectinated claw at their extremity. The abdomen is very
convex above, projecting over the base of the cephalo-thorax; it is thinly clothed with long,
coarse hairs, and is variegated with black, red, and white; on the upper part, rather nearer to
the anterior than to the posterior extremity, there are two tubercles, which are black in front,
and of a pale, yellowish-white hue behind; the prevailing tint of the part before the tubercle»
is black, and of that behind them, which comprises two transverse, black streaks, connected
in the middle, red; the sexual organs have a reddish-brown hue; a small process connected
with their anterior margin is directed backwards, and on each side of its extremity there is a
minute, glossy convexity of a deeper shade; the colour of the branchial opercula is yellow.
The sexes are similar in colour, but the male is smaller than the female. Its palpi have
a yellowish hue, that of the digital joint and palpal organs being brownish; the radial joint is
much longer than the cubital, and somewhat spindle-shaped; the digital joint is oval, prominent,
and rather pointed at the base, broader at the extremity, convex and hairy externally,
concave within, comprising the palpal organs, which are moderately developed, complicated in
structure, with a bold, bilobed process in contact with the prominent base of the joint, a
black, filiform spine curved round their inner side, and two curved, pointed, prominent processes
at their extremity.
In the fourth volume of his ‘ Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt.,’ p. 496, M. Walckenaer has very
properly added the name Theridion callens, conferred on a small spider described in the
‘ Transactions of the Linnean Society,’ and the JEro variegata of M. Koch to the- synonyma of
Theridion variegatum.
This species occurs among grass growing in and near woods, in the west of Denbighshire,
and in Yorkshire; and Mr. J. Hardy has taken it in Berwickshire. The female fabricates a
very remarkable balloon-shaped cocoon, about one eighth of an inch in diameter, which is composed
of soft silk, of a loose texture and pale-brown colour, inclosed in an irregular network of
coarse, dark, red-brown filaments; several of the lines composing this network unite near the
smaller extremity of the cocoon, leaving intervals there through which the young pass when they
quit it, and being cemented together throughout the remainder of their extent, form a slender
stem, varying from one tenth to half an inch in length, by which the cocoon is attached to the
surface of stones and fragments of rock, resembling in figure and position some of the minute
plants belonging to the class Qryptogamia. The eggs are large, considering the small size of
the spider, from five to eight in number, not agglutinated together, and of a brown colour.
Theridion signatum. PI. XIV, fig. 135.
Theridion signatum, Walck., Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt., tom. ii, p. 333.
__ — Blackw., Linn. Trans., vol. xix, p. 124.
__ ? _ _ Blackw., Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., second series, vol. viii,
p. 446.
— quadrisignatum, Hahn, Die Arachn., Band i, p. 80, tab. 20, fig. 60 (mis-
numbered 59 in the plate).
Drassus phaleratus, Sund., Vet. Acad. Handl., 1831, p. 133.
Asagena phalerata, Sund., Consp. Arachn., pp. 19, 20.
— serratipes Koch, TJebers. des Arachn. Syst., erstes Heft, p. 13.
__ __ Koch, Die Arachn., Band vi, p. 98, tab. 204, figs. 502, 503.
Length of the male, fith& of an inch; length of the cephalo-thorax, -J,th, breadth, *th;
breadth of the abdomen, # h ; length of an anterior leg, JJths; length of a leg of the third
pair, sth.
The legs are robust, and have two rows of short, pointed spines on the under side of the
femora and tibiae of the first and second pairs, and the femora of the third and fourth pairs;
the anterior and posterior pairs are the longest, and are equal in length, and the third pair is
the shortest ; they have a red-brown hue, with the exception; of the coxae, the whole of the
tibiae, and the extremities of the femora of the first pair, and the extremities of the femora and
tibiae of the other three pairs, which have a dark-brown tin t; 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 cephalo-thorax is large, oval, convex, rough, like shagreen, with an indentation
in the medial line, and some short spines on the lateral margins'; the falces are powerful,
united at the base, and armed with a short, strong fang at their extremity; the maxillae are
enlarged where the palpi are inserted, obliquely truncated at the extremity, on the outer side,
and inclined towards the lip, which is triangular and pointed at the apex; the sternum is heart-
shaped, and rough, like the cephalo-thorax. These parts are of a dark-brown colour. The four
intermediate eyes form a quadrangle* the anterior pair being seated on a protuberance; those
of each lateral pair are placed on a tubercle, and are contiguous. The palpi are of a dark-brown
colour, with the exception of the radial and digital joints, which have a brownish-black tin t;
these joints are anchylosed, so that they appear to constitute one large, oval joint, which is
convex and hairy externally, and concave within, comprising the palpal organs; these organs
are highly developed, complicated in structure, provided with several strong, corneous processes,
and are of a dark-brown colour. The abdomen is oviform, sparingly clothed with
hairs, convex above, projecting a little over the base of the cephalo-thorax; it is of a brownish-
black hue, with a curved, transverse line in front, an oblong spot above the spinners, and one
on each side, of a bright-yellow colour; at its anterior extremity, where the cephalo-thorax is
connected with it, there is a ridge produced by a fold of the integument, on which are disposed
minute tubercles, each having a fine hair at its summit.