--- a/src/java.base/share/classes/java/lang/invoke/MethodHandles.java	Tue Jul 03 10:47:50 2018 +0200
+++ b/src/java.base/share/classes/java/lang/invoke/MethodHandles.java	Mon Jul 02 23:33:40 2018 -0700
@@ -71,6 +71,9 @@
  * <li>Combinator methods, which combine or transform pre-existing method handles into new ones.
  * <li>Other factory methods to create method handles that emulate other common JVM operations or control flow patterns.
  * </ul>
+ * A lookup, combinator, or factory method will fail and throw an
+ * {@code IllegalArgumentException} if the created method handle's type
+ * would have <a href="MethodHandle.html#maxarity">too many parameters</a>.
  *
  * @author John Rose, JSR 292 EG
  * @since 1.7
@@ -386,8 +389,9 @@
      * constant is not subject to security manager checks.
      * <li>If the looked-up method has a
      * <a href="MethodHandle.html#maxarity">very large arity</a>,
-     * the method handle creation may fail, due to the method handle
-     * type having too many parameters.
+     * the method handle creation may fail with an
+     * {@code IllegalArgumentException}, due to the method handle type having
+     * <a href="MethodHandle.html#maxarity">too many parameters.</a>
      * </ul>
      *
      * <h1><a id="access"></a>Access checking</h1>

--- /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/test/jdk/java/lang/invoke/MethodHandlesArityLimitsTest.java	Mon Jul 02 23:33:40 2018 -0700
@@ -0,0 +1,120 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (c) 2018, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
+ * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
+ *
+ * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+ * under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 only, as
+ * published by the Free Software Foundation.
+ *
+ * This code is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
+ * ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
+ * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License
+ * version 2 for more details (a copy is included in the LICENSE file that
+ * accompanied this code).
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License version
+ * 2 along with this work; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
+ * Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
+ *
+ * Please contact Oracle, 500 Oracle Parkway, Redwood Shores, CA 94065 USA
+ * or visit www.oracle.com if you need additional information or have any
+ * questions.
+ **/
+
+/* @test
+ * @summary unit tests for arity limits of methods in java.lang.invoke.MethodHandles
+ * @run junit/othervm test.java.lang.invoke.MethodHandlesArityLimitsTest
+ **/
+
+package test.java.lang.invoke;
+
+import org.junit.*;
+
+import java.lang.invoke.MethodHandles;
+import java.lang.invoke.MethodHandle;
+import java.lang.invoke.WrongMethodTypeException;
+import java.lang.invoke.MethodType;
+import java.lang.invoke.VarHandle;
+import java.util.List;
+
+import java.util.stream.IntStream;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.*;
+
+public class MethodHandlesArityLimitsTest {
+
+    private static MethodType mt254 = null;
+    private static MethodType mt255 = null;
+
+    static {
+        Class<?>[] classes254 = IntStream.range(0, 254)
+                                         .mapToObj(i -> int.class)
+                                         .toArray(Class[]::new);
+        mt254 = MethodType.methodType(void.class, classes254);
+        mt255 = mt254.appendParameterTypes(int.class);
+    }
+
+    @Test(expected = IllegalArgumentException.class)
+    public void testDropArgumentsToMatch() {
+        MethodHandles.dropArgumentsToMatch(MethodHandles.empty(mt254), 0, mt255.parameterList(), 0);
+    }
+
+    @Test(expected = IllegalArgumentException.class)
+    public void testEmpty() {
+        MethodHandles.empty(mt255);
+    }
+
+    @Test(expected = IllegalArgumentException.class)
+    public void testExplicitCastArguments() {
+        MethodHandles.explicitCastArguments(
+                                         MethodHandles.empty(mt254),
+                                         mt254.dropParameterTypes(0, 1).insertParameterTypes(0, long.class) );
+    }
+
+    @Test(expected = IllegalArgumentException.class)
+    public void testPermuteArguments() {
+        MethodHandles.permuteArguments(
+                                    MethodHandles.empty(MethodType.methodType(void.class)),
+                                    mt255);
+    }
+
+    @Test(expected = IllegalArgumentException.class)
+    public void testVarHandleInvoker() {
+        MethodHandles.varHandleInvoker(VarHandle.AccessMode.GET, mt254);
+    }
+
+    @Test(expected = IllegalArgumentException.class)
+    public void testVarHandleExactInvoker() {
+        MethodHandles.varHandleExactInvoker(VarHandle.AccessMode.GET, mt254);
+    }
+
+    @Test(expected = IllegalArgumentException.class)
+    public void testMHExactInvoker() {
+        MethodHandles.exactInvoker(mt255);
+    }
+
+    @Test(expected = IllegalArgumentException.class)
+    public void testMHInvoker() {
+        MethodHandles.invoker(mt255);
+    }
+
+    @Test(expected = IllegalArgumentException.class)
+    public void testMHSpreadInvoker() {
+        MethodHandles.spreadInvoker(mt255, 255);
+    }
+
+    @Test(expected = WrongMethodTypeException.class)
+    public void testAsType() throws ReflectiveOperationException {
+        MethodHandle asList = MethodHandles.lookup().findStatic(
+                                                java.util.Arrays.class,
+                                                "asList",
+                                                MethodType.methodType(List.class, Object[].class));
+        try {
+           asList.asType(MethodType.genericMethodType(254));//does not throw IAE or WMTE
+        }
+        catch(WrongMethodTypeException wmte) {
+           Assert.fail("Unexpected WrongMethodTypeException thrown");
+        }
+        asList.asType(MethodType.genericMethodType(255));//throws WMTE
+    }
+}