DESCKIPTION OF GENERA AND SPECIES. 153 



Cephalothorax : A rounded oval, sloping gradually backwai'd from the deep circular 

 fosse and forward to the eye space ; head quadrate ; cephalic suture distinct ; slightly pubes- 

 cent ; color orange yellow. Sternum cordate, dark brown, sternal cones distinct ; labium 

 semicircular ; maxilhc well rounded, as wide as long. 



Eyes : The ocular quad is somewhat longer than the greatest width ; the front wider 

 and more elevated than the rear. (Fig. :!a.) MF are on tubercles, are separated aliout 1.75 

 diameter, are slightly longer than MR, which are separated about or less than one diame- 

 ter. MF distant from SF about 1.5 their intervening space. MR from SR about two 

 alignments. The side eyes are on tubercles, are divided by more than a radius ; SR 

 slightly smaller than SF, and placed well behind but a little to the side. The front row 

 is slightly recurved, the rear row slightly procurved ; MF from margin of clypeus about 

 two diameters. 



Legs: 1, 2, 4, ." ; uniform light orange yellow, the tip.s of the terminal joints alone 

 having narrow darker annuli ; not heavily pubescent, rather sparsely provided with short 

 dark spines. Palps colored and armed as the legs ; mandibles conical, color orange yellow. 



Abdomen : Well arched, oval, Ijroadest at the base, tapering to the distal spinnerets; 

 color yellow, folium widest anteriorly, a white median patch on the basal front, mottled 

 white and rosy centre and brownish indentations ; sloping bands of alternate white and 

 orange mark the sides. The venter has a .somewhat triangular patch of black or dark 

 brown (3b), nearly surrounded by a band of yellow widest at the sjiinnerets. Two lunettes 

 of yellow color are on either side of the base of the spinnerets. The epigynum (3c) has a 

 well defined scapus, flattened, of almost equal width throughout, and slightly spooned at 

 the tip. 



Male : 7 mm. long ; in color and markings resemliling the female. The legs are uni- 

 form dark orange yellow, more heavily armored than female with lirown spines and gray 

 bristles. Tibia-II is not swollen, has no special clasping spines, but numerous long brown 

 spines symmetrically arranged in rows. Tibia-I is similarly armed. The palpal digit, od, 

 somewhat resembles that of E. patagiata. 



DisTKiRUTioN : New York ; I have two inmiature females from Ithaca, N. Y. (Mr. N. 

 Banks), and a mature male, and female lacking one moult of maturity taken by me at Alex- 

 andria Bay on the St. Lawrence River.' 



No. 12. Epeira placida Hestz. Plate IV., Figs. 4, 4a, 5, oa. 



1847. Eprira placida, Hentz . . . . J. B. S., v., 475 ; Sp. U. S., p. 115, xiii., 12. 

 1884. .B;jf ()•« pfacida, E.MEKTON .... N. E. Ep., 316, xxxiv., 2; xxxvi., 10-13. 



Female: This beautiful spider is one of the smallest of our indigenous Epeira. Among 

 numerous specimens I have only one that equals 4 nun. in length. It is strongly marked, 

 especially upon the abdomen, where the colors are white or whitish yellow, with a prom- 

 inent, blackish brown median band. Total length, .'! mm. ; abdomen, 2.5 mm. long by 1.5 

 mm. wide; cephalothorax, 1.5 mm. long, 1 nmi. wide. 



Cephalotiioka.x : Cordate, the corselet rounded at the edges, rather high, pitched 

 sharply backward, the head gradually depressed to the face, the fosse a longitudinal slit; 

 in these features resembling E. forata, and differing from tyi)ical Epeira. The color yel- 

 low or dark yellow, with a broad median band of brown or blackish brown, widest at 

 the eyes ; the skin glossy, slightly jtubescent, with grayish hairs upon the sides of the caput; 

 sternum shield shai>e, acute at the apex, wide at the base, brown or blackish brown ; at 

 the margins a broad, yellow median liand; the labium short, triangular; the maxillae as 

 wide or nearly as wide as long, sharply truncated at the tips ; color of labium and maxillfe 

 yellowish brown. 



Eyes : Ocular quad upon a squarish eminence projecting in front, somewhat longer than 

 wide ; the width in front and behind nearly the same, but slightly greater in Iront ; the 



* In reviewing this description since preparation of plates I am inclined to think the above a 

 small varietal form of Epeira marmorea. 



