DESCRIPTION OP GENERA AND SPECIES. 147 



wliite, with lighter shade upon the dorsum, which is rather flattened tlian arched. The 

 skin is abundantly covered with long whitish yellow bristles. One specimen from California 

 (Mrs. Smith) measures 10 mm. long; abdomen, 7 mm. long by 4.5 mm. wide; cephalothorax, 

 5 mm. long by 4 mm. wide ; firet leg, 15 mm. It has the spines dark, as in E. quadratii, 

 instead of yellow with Ijrown bases, as in E. trifoliuni. 



No. 7. Epeira Benjamina Walckenaer. Plate I., Fig. 7 ; PI. II., Figs. 4, 5. 



1837. Epeira Binjnmina, Walckenaer. Ins. Apt., ii., p. 42; Abbot, G. S., No. 126, 351. 



1837. .Bpfira 7m(teii7is, Walckenaer . . Ibid., p. 73; Abbot, G. S., No. 351. 



1847. Epeira domiciUnrvm, Hentz ... .1. B. S., v., p. 469 ; Id., Sp. U. S., p. 108 ; xii., 7. 



1864. Epeira Henlzii, Keyserling . . . Beschr. n. Orbitel., p. 97 ; v., 10, 11. 



1884. Epeira domic iliorum, Emerton . N. E. Ep., p. 312 ; xxxiii., 17 ; xxxvi., 1-4. 



1888. Epeira Benjamina, McCooK . . . Necessity for Revising Nomenclature of Am. Spid., 



Proceed. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila., p. 5. 



1889. Epeira domiciliorum, McCooK . . Amer. Spid. and their Spinningwork, Vols. I., II. 

 1889. Epeira benjamina, Marx .... Catalogue. 



Female : Total length, 15 mm. ; cephalothorax, 6 mm. long, 5 mm. wide ; abdomen, 11 

 mm. long ; 9 mm. wide at the base, diminishing to 3 mm. or less at the apex. The species 

 differs much in size and color according to distribution and age, and in the typical speci- 

 mens the fore part of the body is bright orange on the cephalothorax, thighs, and patella, 

 lightening into yellow on the remaining joints of the legs, with decided d.irker annuli at 

 the tips. The a%domen is yellow or yellowish brown, which in old age deepens, becoming 

 reddish brown, a shade which the cephalothorax and legs also assume. See Plate II., Fig. 4, 

 drawn from an old specimen. 



Cephalothorax : Rounded, truncated at the indented base ; the posterior slope smooth, 

 the fosse deep ; the cephalic suture marked, grooves sufficiently distinct ; margins and sides 

 of corselet and sides of the head covered with yellowish hairs ; skin glossy, varying from 

 uniform brown to yellow or orange yellow streaked with orange marks. Caput quadrate in 

 front, and slightly depressed from the summit of the corselet. Sternum shield shaped, 

 yellowish brown, lightened in the middle ; in some specimens much brightened with 

 a broad yellow band attenuated at the point ; skin glossy, covered with yellowish gray 

 hairs, with sternal cones raised in the middle. Lip wider than high, subtriangular ; max- 

 ilke somewhat longer than wide, tips subtriangular, and directed towards each other; color 

 brown, or like the sternum, with lighter shade upon the tips. 



Eyes : Ocular quad on a prominence more decided in front, where it is slightly wider, 

 the sides somewhat longer. MF separated bj' at least 1.5 diameter, somewhat larger than MR, 

 which are separated by about one diameter ; the ocular eminence is surrounded at the base 

 by yellowish hairs, which are also on the face and eyebrows. Side eyes on tubercles, con- 

 tingent; SF larger than SR. MF removed from SF by about 2.5 times their intervening 

 space or 1.3 their alignment ; front row somewhat recurved, rear row procurved ; clypeus 

 about two diameters of MF high, and the margin has rows of strong yellowish bristles. 



Legs: 1, 2, 4, 3; stout upon the femora, though somewhat attenuated at the terminal 

 joints ; the ground color yellow, with bands of bright orange at tips of joints and in the 

 middle of the femora ; slightly darker median annuli also mark the tibia. The surface is 

 heavily clothed with yellow hairs and bristles, and numerous yellow spines with dark bases, 

 which, however, are blackish on the terminal joints. Palps heavily armed throughout and 

 colored as legs, but of lighter hue ; mandibles conical, slightly arched at the base, articulating 

 in the plane of the face ; brown or yellowish brown. 



Abdomen : When the female is not gravid the abdomen is subtriangular in shape, being 

 much wider at the base. It is sparsely covered with long white bristles with dark bases, 

 which are gathered in a tuft at the front where it overhangs the cephalothorax ; also freely 

 covered with short yellowish hairs. The dorsal folium (Plate I., Fig. 7) is an anchorlike figure, 

 with strong dentations of light color branching from each side and diminishing towards the 



