176 



THE COMMON SPIDERS 



spots and black and yellow markings (fig. 411). The abdomen 

 is marked with two parallel lines on the hinder half and three 

 smaller black spots in front, the latter often absent. The 

 parallel lines are sometimes broken up into rows of spots, and 

 these may form part of several transverse black and yellow 

 marks. The cephalothorax has a narrow black line in the 

 middle from the dorsal groove nearly to the eyes. The feet 



are black toward the claws, and the spines 

 of the legs are long and black. The first 

 and second femora have a longitudinal 

 black line on the under side. The abdo- 

 men is oval, half longer than wide. The 

 cephalothorax is high in the middle and 

 slopes forward toward the eyes almost as 

 steeply as backward (fig. 412). The web 

 (fig. 413) is horizontal or inclined, with a 

 round well-defined central portion, in the 

 middle of which is sometimes a round 

 opaque screen that nearly covers the 

 spider. In the finished web there is 

 usually no trace of the temporary spiral, 

 but sometimes, as in the figure, a little of 

 it is left, showing how it starts abruptly 

 from the closer spirals that form the 

 center of the web. The outer spirals are very fine and close 

 together and the number of rays unusually large, sometimes as 

 many as sixty. 



Epeira placida. — This is a small spider, about a fifth of an 

 inch long, with the longest legs about a quarter of an inch. 

 The cephalothorax is high in the middle where it rests 

 against the abdomen very much as it is in gibberosa (fig. 412). 

 The abdomen is oval, and widest behind. The legs are com- 

 paratively short and tapering, and the femora thick. The 



411 



Figs. 411, 412. Epeira gib- 

 berosa, enlarged eight times. 

 — 41 1, back of female. 412, 

 side view to show humps on 

 the cephalothorax. 



