THE EPEIRID/E 



177 



cephalothorax is brownish yellow, with three brown stripes. 

 The legs are the same color, a little darker at the ends of the 

 joints. The abdomen has a middle brown stripe, narrow in 

 front and widening to the middle, from which it extends to the 

 spinnerets, keeping about the same width, with a row of black 

 spots on the edge at each side and a pair of white spots in the 



Fig. 413. Web of Epeira gibberosa, showing the round center of the inner spiral, the 

 great number of rays, and the closeness of the spirals. Torn in several places 

 by use. Half the real size. 



middle (fig. 414). The sides of the abdomen are white or yellow, 

 and underneath it is brown, with two white stripes in the mid- 

 dle and four white spots around the spinnerets. The male is 

 marked like the female and has no peculiar modifications of 

 the legs. This spider matures early, sometimes before the 

 first of June in Massachusetts, and half-grown young are 



