The legs are long, slender, provided with numerous fine, erect spines, and of a yellowish-
brown colour, with brownish-black annuli; each tarsus is terminated by three claws; the
two superior ones are curved and pectinated, and the inferior one is inflected near its base,
which is furnished with one or two very small teeth. The palpi resemble the legs in colour,
and have at their extremity a slightly curved claw, minutely dentated about a third of its
length from the base. The cephalo-thorax is oval, glossy, prominent before, and depressed
on the sides, which are marked with slight furrows converging towards a large indentation in
the medial line; the falces are strong, conical, armed with teeth on the inner surface, and
inclined towards the sternum, which is heart-shaped; the maxillae are somewhat quadrate,
having the exterior angle at the extremity curvilinear; the lip is short, semicircular, and
prominent at the apex. These parts have a very dark-brown tint, the sternum, which is the
darkest, being almost black. The four intermediate eyes describe a trapezoid whose anterior
side is the shortest, and those of each lateral pair are seated on a small tubercle, and are
almost contiguous; the posterior eyes of the trapezoid are the largest, and the anterior ones
the smallest of the eight. 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
brownish-black colour, bordered by a broad, irregular, brown band which passes above the
spinners, but whose continuity is interrupted in front by a black bar intersecting it at right
angles; this band is very thickly spotted with white anteriorly, the white spots on the posterior
part being fewer, smaller, and intermixed with some blackish ones; an indistinct series
of curved; angular lines, of a brown colour, having their convex sides towards each other
and their vertices directed forwards, extends along the middle, arid above the spinners there
are several small, yellowish-white spots; the sides are of a brown colour, minutely spotted
with white, and a curved, brownish-black band extends from the anterior part of each nearly
half way towards the spinners; the under part has a dark-brown hue, with four minute,
yellowish-white, compound spots, forming a large quadrangle; the sexual organs, which are
prominent and cylindrical, have a brownish-black tint; and the colour of the branchial
opercula is brown.
The male is slenderer and darker coloured than the female, and has one tooth on the
inner surface of each falx much larger than the rest. The cubital and radial joints of its
palpi are short, the latter, which is much the stronger, being produced at its extremity, on
the inner side, and fringed with long bristles on the outer side of the upper part; the digital
joint is oval, convex and hairy externally, concave within, comprising the palpal organs,
which are highly developed, complicated in structure, with a strong, prominent, curved,
scale-like process on the inner side, which ends in a point directed obliquely downwards and
outwards, and a spiral spine at their extremity, terminated by a delicate, fringed membrane;
at the base of the spiral spine, on its outer side, there is an expanded, projecting, transparent
membrane, slightly fringed at its margin; the colour of these organs is dark reddish-brown.
In its habits and economy this species resembles montana, fabricating in low
bushes or among coarse herbage an extensive snare, similar in design to the toils constructed
by the L in yphia generally. It pairs in May, and in June the female spins one or two lenticular
cocoons of white silk of a loose texture, which are attached-to withered leave«, or
other objects situated near the snare ; the larger of these cocoons measures half an inch in
diameter, and contains about 140 spherical eggs of a pale-yellow colour, not agglutinated
together.
Inhabits Scotland and Ireland.
Linyphia pratensis. PL XY, fig. 141.
Linyphia pratensis, Wider, Museum Senckenb., Band i, p. 258, taf. 17, fig. 8.
__ — Walck., Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt., tom. ii, p. 250.
__ _ Koch, Die Arachn., Band xii, p. 121, tab. 423, fig. 1043.
__ f f p p Blackw., Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., second series, vol. viii,'
p. 449.
— sylvatica, Blackw., Linn. Trans., vol. xviii, p. 659.
Length of the female,. ;th of-an ih.dft; length of the cephalo-thorax, ^th,- breadth,-
breadth of the%bdomen, length of an anterior leg, |th s ; length of' a leg of the third
pair, 5th.
Tlie legs are long, slender, provided with hairs and fine, erect spines, and are of a
yellowish-brown colour, occasionally tinged with green; 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.slightly curved claw'at their,
extremity. The cephalo-thorax is oval, convex, glossy, with slight furrows on the sides converging
towards a large indentation in the medial line ; the falces are powerful, conical, convex
in front, armed with teeth on the inner surface, and slightly inclined towards the sternum,
which is heart-shaped; the maxillae are strong and somewhat quadrate, having the exterior
angle, at the extremity, curvilinear; and the lip is semicircular and prominent at the apex.
These parts are of a very dark-brown colour, the cephalo-thorax being the palest. The four
intermediate eyes describe a trapezoid whose anterior side is the shortest, and those of each
lateral pair are seated on a small tubercle, and are contiguous, or nearly s o ; the posterior
eyes of the trapezoid are the largest of the eight. The abdomen is thinly clothed with hairs,
glossy, very convex above, and projects over the base of the cephalo-thorax; a broad, longitudinal,
dentated, dark-brown band, bordered with yellowish-white, occupies the middle of
the upper part; the sides have a dark-brown hue, a large, irregular, yellowish-white band
extending along each, and uniting above the spinners; and the colour of the under part and-
the branchial opercula is dark-brown, the latter having a tinge of red; the sexual organs
have two large, external orifices, and a small, oval process connected with their inferior
margiti.
The male bears little resemblance to the female. Its figure is much slighter, and its;
falces, which are very powerful, have a small, obtuse prominence at the base, numerous;
minute tubercles in front and on the outer side, and are armed with a large tooth and several
29