with them four prominent, contiguous processes directed obliquely downwards and backwards,
the posterior one being the shortest.
The male is much smaller than the female, but it closely resembles her in colour. The
cubital and radial joints of its palpi are short, the latter being the larger; the digital joint is
oval, with a small lobe on the outer sid e; it is convex and hairy externally, concave within,
comprising the palpal organs, which are highly developed, prominent, complex in structure,
with a small, crescent-shaped process near their base, on the outer side, whose superior limb
is terminated by an acute point which is almost in contact with the extremity of the radial
jo int; these organs are of a red-brown colour.
Specimens of this small species of L inyphia have been found in moss growing among
heath in woods about Oakland, and at the roots of heath on Bingley Moor, in Yorkshire. Two
adult males and an immature female, captured in the latter locality, were received from Mr.
R. H. Meade in October, 1852.
L i n y p h i a i n s i g n i s . PI. XVII, fig . 1 6 0 .
Linyphia insignis, Blackw., Linn. Trans., vol. xviii, p. 662.
— — Walck., Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt., tom. iv, p. 499.
— — Blackw., Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., second series, vol. ix, p. 18.
Length of the female, ^ths of an inch; length of the cephalo-thorax, ^th, breadth, ^ th ;
breadth of the abdomen, ^ th; length of an anterior leg, &ths; length of a leg of the third
pair, Jth.
The cephalo-thorax is oval, convex, glossy, with slight furrows on the sides converging
towards a large indentation in the medial line; its colour is yellowish-brown, the margins
being the darkest. The eyes are seated on black spots; the four intermediate ones form a
trapezoid whose anterior side is the shortest, and those of each lateral pair are placed obliquely
on a small tubercle and are nearly contiguous; the posterior eyes of the trapezoid are rather
the largest, and the anterior ones the smallest of the eight. The falces are powerful, conical,
vertical, and armed with a few teeth on the inner surface; and the maxillae are straight, and
somewhat quadrate. These organs resemble the cephalo-thorax in colour, but are rather
darker. The lip is semicircular and prominent at its apex; and the sternum is heart-shaped.
These parts have a dark-brown tint, the lip being paler at the extremity. The legs are
long, slender, provided with hairs and fine, erect spines, and are of a pale yellowish-brown
hue; the first pair is the longest, then the second, 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. The
abdomen is oviform, glossy, thinly clothed with hairs, convex above, projecting over the base
of the cephalo-thorax; it is of a dull-yellowish colour, with a series of black, angular lines,
whose vertices are directed forwards, extending along the middle of the upper part, and an
irregular, longitudinal band of the same hue on each side; there is a black spot above the
I 111'}]
outer margin of each branchial operculum, and several similar ones, more or less confluent,
occur about the spinners; a very long, subcylindrical process of a red-brown colour, notched
at the extremity, and provided with long hairs on the inferior surface, is directed backwards
from the sexual organs, with the anterior margin of which it is connected; the branchial
opercula have a pale-yellow tint. The black marks on this species are liable to vary both
in form and number, some individuals being entirely without the series of angular lines on
the upper part of the abdomen.
The male is smaller and darker coloured than the female-: Its cephalo-thorax has a
brown hue,;and its legs, palpi, falces, and maxillae are tinged with red. The radial joint of
the palpi is larger than the cubital, and has a prominent, conical process near its base, on
the outer side, at the extremity of which there are two long bristles; the digital joint is
somewhat oval, with a large lobe on the outer sid e; it is convex and hairy externally, concave
within, comprising the palpal organs; these organs are highly developed, prominent, complicated
in structure, with a black, pointed process at their base, on the outer side, a large
scale-like process curved round their inner side, and base, which terminates at a prominent,
membraneous process on the outer side, and a curved, filiform, black spine on the inner side,
whose point is. directed downwards; their predominant colour is red-brown.
In the autumn of 1837 an adult female of this species was received from Mr. John
Parry, who captured it at Trafford, near Manchester; and in the years 1851 and 1852 Mr.
R. H. Meade found both sexes on the fronds of the male shield-fern, L astrea filixm as, growing
in woods about Bradford, in Yorkshire, in which district it is very common ('Zoologist,' vol.
x, pi 3678). This spider is of such rare occurrence in the vicinity of Llanrwst, that a single
adult male is the only specimen of it which has been obtained in that locality during a period
of twenty years, and it was taken in an outbuilding in the winter of 1852. Both sexes, in a
state of maturity, were received in 1858 from Mr. J. Hardy, who took them in Berwickshire.
L in y p h ia p e r n ix .
Linyphia pernix, Blackw., Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., second series, vol. x, p. 98.
— — Blackw., Ibid., vol. xi, p. 120.
Lenoth of the male, ^th of an inch; length of the cephalo-thorax, ^th, breadth, ith ;
breadth of the abdomen, ^ th ; length of an anterior leg, jth ; length of a leg of the third
pair, jth.
The falces are long, powerful, sub-conical, with a protuberance at the base, in front, and
a few teeth on the inner surface; they are inclined towards the sternum, and are of a reddish-
brown colour. The maxillae are rather darker coloured than the falces, straight, and somewhat
enlarged at the extremity, which is curvilinear at its exterior angle. The lip is semicircular,
prominent at the apex, and, like the sternum, which is heart-shaped, of a very dark-
brown hue. The cephalo-thorax is oval, convex, glossy, with an indentation in the medial
line, and some coarse hairs, directed forwards, behind the ey e s; its colour is dark-brown.
32