202 



AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



diameter; side eyes on tubercles; tufts of strong gray bristles, like eyebrows, behind them; 

 SF about equal in size to MR; SR decidedly smaller than SF, and not quite contingent; 

 MF separated from SF by about 1.3 to 1.5 their area; MR from SR 2.3 their alignment! 

 The front low scarcely jirocurved, rear row procurved and longer; long, gray bristles mark 

 the margin of the dypeus, which is about 1.5 dinmeter of MF in height. 



Legs: 1, 2, 4, 3; the fourth leg scarcely as strong and long relatively as in Epeira; 

 color yellow, with bright rose tints on the femora-I, II, intermingled with orange hues '; 

 annuli at joints, and lighter color median annuli underneath tibia and metatarsus; well 

 clothed with long, gray bristles and hairs, and with numerous long, light colored spines, 

 with brownish bases; the hairs on the feet and metatarsus are strong and bristlelike, and 

 are curved outward; palps colored and armored as the legs; mandibles conical, arched at 

 the bases, which are provided with gray bristles; color yellow, diffused with orange brown 

 at the tips. 



Abdomen: Subtriangular, sliglitly overhangs the cephalothorax, broad at the base, 

 slightly tapering towards the apex, flat on the dorsum ; spinnerets beneath the apical wall ; 

 color grayish yellow, marked by lateral stripes on the side, and punctuated by dots of 

 brownish color on the dorsum. The median line is strongly characterized by an inter- 

 rupted band, consisting of three parts, extending about two-thirds of the length'; its upper 

 section is rounded, and has projections at either end, the central part is rectangular, and 

 the third division is a round spot ; the median is marked by a few spots and lines. The 

 ventral pattern is black, an irregular quadrilateral, margined by a rather narrow and 

 reticulated yellow band. The epigynum is bright yellow and dark brown, with a remark- 

 ably long scapus, broad at the base and tapering to a point, the length extending almost 

 from the insertion to base of the spinnerets. Although the head of this species is more 

 depressed than in the typical Verrucosa and the spinous armature is stronger, in both 

 these particulars resembling Epeira, yet other characters seem to justify placing it in this 

 genus. 



DisTHiBUTioN : Fort Yuma, Arizona. (Marx Collection.) 



Genus KAIRA Cambridge, 1889. 



In Kaira the cephalothorax is triangular ovate, widest near the base, sharply 

 shelving to the crest, where the corselet is highest, thence sloping forward with consider- 

 able inclination toward the face, the caput thus being decidedly depressed. The sternum 

 is longer than wide, and the labium wider than long, as are also the maxilL-e. The rear 

 eyes of the ocular quad are little elevated, are less than the front; the relative spaces 

 between the side eyes and the middle group are as in Epeira, as is the curvature of the 

 rows, the front being recurved and the rear procurved. The clypeus is of moderate height, 

 but the high elevation of the quad separates the midfront well from the margin thereof. 

 The legs are especially distinguished by closely set rows of short, stout, spinous bristles, 

 curved towards the apex, and which are especially numerous on the exterior surface of the 

 metatarsus. This joint is particularly stubby, and all the legs are stout. The extremely 

 hirsute character of the legs appears ujjon the entire body, for stout, spinelike bristles are 

 spread thickly upon the surface of the corselet, and, though somewhat shorter, upon the 

 abdomen. The abdomen is broadly shield shape, high, and thick at the base, slightly 

 narrowing to the spinnerets, which are distal. The base is distinguished by two castellated 

 prominences, which are subdivided into a number of conical protuberances. 



No. 58. Kaira alba (Hentz). Plate XII, Figs. 3, 3a-c. 



1850. Epeira alba, Hentz J. B. S., vi., 20; Id., Sp. U. S., p. 122, xiv., 7. 



1884. Epeira alba, Kevserling .... Neu. Spinn. Amer., vi., p. 531, vi., 29. 

 1890. Kaira alba, Kevserling .... Spinn. Amerik., Epeir., iv., p. 64, iii., 50. 



