THE EPEIRID.^E 



l8l 



legs have dark rings at the ends and middle of the joints. It 

 lives among low bushes a foot or two from the ground all over 

 the country. This spider, as well as several other species, 

 often leaves a web unfinished with the inner spiral still cover- 

 ing a large part of it, as in fig. 420. 



Epeira verrucosa. — Common in the South and as far north as 

 Long Island, N.Y. The body is about a quarter of an inch 

 long. The abdomen is narrow behind but not pointed, and in 

 front nearly as wide as long. The middle is nearly covered by 

 a triangular light spot, — white, yellow, or pink in 

 different spiders, — surrounded by a darker color 

 of various shades of brown or gray. The cepha- 

 lothorax is yellow or light gray, with sometimes 

 some darker spots in the middle. The legs 

 are colored like the thorax, 

 with darker rings at th< 

 ends of the joints and 

 the middle of the first 

 and second femora. 

 The spines are slender 

 and colored like the 

 hairs. The abdomen 

 has a prominent tuber- 

 cle behind, at the end 

 of the light spot, and 

 under it in the middle 

 line two others. At 

 the sides near the pos- 

 terior end are two pairs 

 of tubercles, and some- 

 times two other pairs farther forward, and two at the corners of 

 the light spot. The colors of the under side are as variable 

 as those above, — sometimes light without distinct markings, 



Figs. 421, 422, 423. Epeira verrucosa. — 421, female 

 enlarged twice. 422, under side of female. 423, 

 male enlarged twice. 



