A HISTORY OF CORNWALL hurries down, and with the tarsal comb on the fourth pair of legs commences kicking out from the spinners silken fluid, often quite moist like treacle, which strikes against and hardens on the victim. In this way very large spiders, beetles, and wood-lice are en- snared and converted into food. With a rapid and irritable movement of the forelegs also, small tufts of fine silk are gathered and flung promiscuously over the web. The male, a much smaller spider, may often also be seen hanging near at hand in the web, and the one or more brown pear-shaped egg-sacs also hang in the upper part of the toil. Sometimes these spiders are found outside the houses, but rarely, if ever, amongst the shrubs in the open garden. Known also under Theridion. 1 06. Steatoda variant, Hahn. Mawnan. A very much smaller species, varying considerably in colour, and found abundantly in greenhouses and also amongst shrubs in the open garden. This species makes no tent-like retreat, but sits close to the one or more pale rounded egg-sacs, usually spun up against a beam or window-sill. Known also under Theridion. 107. Steatoda denticulata, Walckenaer. Mawnan. Also a very small and abundant species, occurring on the outside of windows and outhouses, also on walls and palings. It makes no tent-like retreat, and the habits are very similar to those of the last species. Known also under Theridion. 1 08. Steatoda itsyphium, Clerck. Liskeard. Very common on gorse and holly bushes, where they construct a tent-like domicile, and spin up within its shelter the small greenish egg-sacs. The young when hatched pass also their earlier days within the tent, but on the death of the mother spider they scatter, taking up positions for themselves amongst the neigh- bouring foliage. Known also as Theridion nervosum, Blackwall, and under Theridion. 109. Steatoda fallens, Blackwall. Saltash (G. C. B.) ; Liskeard. This minute Theridloid, pale yellow in colour, with often a dark, or paler dorsal spot on the abdomen, lives beneath the leaves of shrubs and trees laurel, elm, lime, etc. where it spins its minute pear-shaped pure white egg-sac, which rests on its larger end and has several other small cusps towards the small sharp- pointed stalk. Known also under Theridion. I IO. Theridion ovatum, Clerck. Mawnan. A very common species. The female lives in the folded leaf of a bramble, or that of some other shrub, spinning the edges together. Within this domicile she constructs a round sea-green egg-sac about as large as a very small pea. The spider has a pale yellow abdomen with a broad pink central dorsal band or two pink bands, one on each side. Another variety has no pink bands, but a row of black spots on each side. The male and female can often be found together within their leafy domicile. This spider is also known under the name of Phylhnethls llneata and Theridion llneatum. in. Steatoda blpnnctata, Linnaeus. Mawnan ; Portscatho. A dark brown, shiny, rather flattened spider living in chinks of walls, angles of windows, and crevices in the partitions of old stables, etc. emerging usually at nightfall. The males are remarkable for their very large palpi and also for the possession of a stridulating organ, formed by a series of chitinous ridges in a hollow at the anterior part of the abdomen, which move over some cusps on the conical posterior of the carapace. Known also as Theridion quadrlpunctatum, Blackwall, and Steatoda blpunctata. 112. Asagena phalerata, Panzer. Downderry Cliffs (G. C. B.). A rare species. Known also as Theridion slgnatfim, Blackwall. 113. Enoplognatha thoraclca, Hahn. Mawnan. Known also as Nertene alblpunctata, O. P.-Cambridge, and Drepanodus obscurus, O. P.-Cambridge. 114. Teutana grossa, C. L. Koch. Portscatho. A rare species, found usually in cellars or caves. A single adult male. Known also as Theridion versutum, Blackwall, and Steatoda versuta. PHOLCIDAE Spiders with more or less slender bodies and very long slender legs. The eyes are situated in three groups a group of two in the centre, and a group of three on each side. The only British species we possess is a well-known frequenter of houses in the southern counties, spinning an irregular web and moving swiftly when alarmed. with a circular shaking motion 115. Phoktu phahngloldes, Fuesslin. Botus Fleming ; Cothele ; Saltash (G. C. nell). DICTYNIDAE The spiders belonging to this family possess three tarsal claws, and the eyes are eight in number, situated in two transverse rows, the laterals being in contact. The cribellum (or extra pair of spinning organs) and the calamistrum (a row of curving bristles on the pro- tarsi of the fourth pair of legs) are present in all members of the family. They construct a tubular retreat with an outer sheeting of webbing, which is covered with a flocculent silk made with the calamis- trum by threads from the cribellum. 252
