DESCRIPTION OF (iENERA AND SPECIES. 151 



Distribution : I have specimens from New England southward to Flori<la, and also 

 from Utah (Professor O. Howard), from Southern California, and as far north as Wis- 

 consin (Professor Peckham). Dr. Marx notes it as found in Alabama and Texas, indicating 

 a distribution throughout the entire Gulf States. We may tlms conclude that it is distrib- 

 uted over the entire United States. As it may be regarded as identical with the European 

 E. cucurbitina, it has a wide European distribution, and is one of the best and earliest 

 known species. 



No. 1 0. Epeira vertebrata McCook. Plate III., Figs. 6, 7 ; PI. IV., Fig. 1 ; PI. V., Fig. 4. 



1888. Epeira vertebrata, McCook .... Acad. Nat. Sci., Philada., p. 196. 



1889. Epeira vertebrata, McCook .... Amer. Spid. and their Spinningwork. 



Female : Total length, 14 mm. ; cephalothorax, 6 mm. long, 4.5 mm. wide, at the face 

 2 mm. wide ; abdomen, 11 mm. long, 7.5 wide, narrowing to 2 mm. at the apex and 3 mm. 

 at the base. 



Cephalothorax : A rather long oval, twice as wide at the base as at the face, flattened 

 on top and gradually depressed to the base ; fosse a longitudinal slit ; caput very gradually 

 sloping to the face, like the corselet somewhat flattened on top ; color yellow, witli a broad 

 brown stripe on the sides which entirely surrounds the face, and a median stripe of brown 

 which is broadest on the caput ; it thus presents the appearance of having four longitudi- 

 nal yellow stripes alternated with three of brown. ' The corselet is sparsely provided upon 

 the sides with whitish gray hairs, which form borders on the margin, and are much 

 thicker on the sides of the caput ; the sternum is shield shaped, somewhat longer than 

 wide, with a broad median band of yellow ; much rounded at the apex, and indented at 

 the sides; well covered with hair; sternal cones prominent; lip large, subtriangular, one- 

 half as high as the maxilKT, which are slightly longer than wide, subtriangular at the tips ; 

 both organs brown, with yellow tips, and covered with dark curved bristles. 



Eyes : Ocular quad wider in front than behind, length greater than width, the fore part 

 on an eminence much more decided in front ; eyes about equal in size ; MF separated by 

 about 1.3 diameter ; MR by about one diameter; side eyes on tubercles, smaller than the 

 middle eyes, but about equal in size, barely contingent ; SF removed from MF by 1.5 the 

 alignment of the latter, or at least two times or more their intervening space ; the dypeus 

 is narrow, the ocular eminence almost touching the margin, which is removed by about 

 1.5 diameter from MF ; the front row is slightly recurved ; the longer rear row procurved. 



Legs: 1, 2, 4, 3; stout at the thighs, but tapering well to the tarsi, abundantly armed 

 with strong blackish brown sjjines and with gray bristles and hair ; color yellow, with dark 

 brown annuli, and the thighs, particularly at legs-I and II, in many specimens almost 

 entirely glossy brown, flecked with gray pubescence ; the palps are marked and armed as 

 the legs, but rather lighter in color ; the mandibles are dark glossy brown, with tufts of 

 hair upon the inside ; conical, much narrower at the tips than at the base ; the basal cog 

 prominent, as is the corresponding dewlap upon the face ; the tips and fangs are Ijlack. 



Abdomen : An elongated oval, somewhat narrowed at the rounded base, and much nar- 

 rowed at the apex to the distal spinnerets ; the dorsum well arched, the ground color brown, 

 or yellowish brown, with a median herring bone or arrow shaped pattern with a double 

 head, the point of the anterior one reaching to the middle of the basal front. Beyond the 

 second arrow head the median pattern continues to the apex with indented edges ; the 

 centre of this vertebralike figure is marked along the entire dorsum with an inteniipted 

 ribbon of brown mottled with yellow ; the folial margin consists of a band of yellow broken 

 into spots, sometimes outlined with rosy brown, in the centre of which are black patches, 

 forming a V-shaped figure receding toward the apex somewhat like Epeira arabesca ; the 

 sides are broad, irregular yellow bands. The surface is strongly reticulated and tlie whole 

 appearance beautiful. The venter is a broad anchor shaped band of brown, flanked on 



' This effect in some plates has been obliterated by the colorists. 



