Hardwicke's science-gossip : an illustrated medium of interchange and gossip for students and lovers of nature . 2 HARDWICKES SCIENCE-GOSSIP. [Jan. 1, 1S63. reddish-brown and glossy ; the eight slender legs areof a light yellow or yellowish-brown, marked in theneighbourhood of the joints with rings of reddish-brown; thus presenting somewhat the appearance oftortoiseshell. The abdomen is very convex aboveand very pointed at the spinners,—much resemblinga boys pegtop; it is thinly clothed with hairs, andis very glossy, the gloss being more perceptiblewhen the spider is distended with food; the c
Hardwicke's science-gossip : an illustrated medium of interchange and gossip for students and lovers of nature . 2 HARDWICKES SCIENCE-GOSSIP. [Jan. 1, 1S63. reddish-brown and glossy ; the eight slender legs areof a light yellow or yellowish-brown, marked in theneighbourhood of the joints with rings of reddish-brown; thus presenting somewhat the appearance oftortoiseshell. The abdomen is very convex aboveand very pointed at the spinners,—much resemblinga boys pegtop; it is thinly clothed with hairs, andis very glossy, the gloss being more perceptiblewhen the spider is distended with food; the colouron the upper part is brown inclining to red, mottledwith irregular spots of white and black, the whitepredominating, and forming an irregular line acrossthe middle: in the centre of this is a blackish spot,and a little lower down a curved black line: theunder part is nearly black, except in the neighbour-hood of the spinners, where the colour becomesnearly red. The males are smaller than the females ;the legs are, however, of the same length: thesemales are wonderfully active, incessantly on ***&*i - - -^^ Fig. 1. Theridion riparium, male and female, enlarged. My purpose not being to describe the anatomy ofmy tiny friend, but to speak of her habits and hercuriously constructed domicile, I must refer thoseof my readers who desire to learn more of the struc-ture of this and other spiders, to the previous pagesof this journal, and to Blackwalls* excellent de-scription of this spider. My specimens are nothowever, so distinctly marked as those figured inthe work referred to. The Theridion riparium is essentially a light-avoider; at all events, has a great antipathy to stronglight, and usually constructs her singular nest underthe shade of overhanging banks, seldom making her * A History of the Spiders of Great Britain and Ireland, byJohn Blackwall. R. Hardwicke, 186l and 1864. appearance during the day, but becoming active asdarkness creeps on. Desirous of observing
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