UESCKIPTION OF GENEKA AND SPECIES. 



It is not strange that the remarkable diversity of markings and color upon the dorsum of 

 the abdomen of this spider should have led Baron Walckenaer to erect a number of species 

 thereupon from the manuscript drawings of Abbot in his possession. In my paper here- 

 tofore referred to,' I meutioncil this fact, and therein gave Epeira eustala as the proper 

 title of this species. The more thorough studies which I gave Abbot's ]\ISS. in the summer 

 of 1892 showed me that the first description in order is given under the name of E. anastera, 

 on page S'S, and is No. 4 of Walckenaer's descriptions of the Orbweavers. This corresponds 

 with Abbot's No. 381, which is sufficiently accurate to be recognized as the species under 

 consideration. I have only given in the synonyma these two first occuriing names. For 

 the benefit of future students I place in the foot notes the various titles of the species 

 which Walckenaer has given, with their corresponding numbers in Abbot's drawings.- 



Fem.^le: Total length, 7.3 mm.; abdomen, 5.3 mm. long, 5 mm. wide; cephalothorax, 

 2.9 mm. long, 2.4 mm. wide in the middle, narrowing in front to about a millimetre. The 

 general colors of the fore part of the body vary from yellow and yellowish brown to orange 

 brown ; the abdomen from yellow to yellow and dark brown. This organ, however, is 

 greatly varied in markings and shades of color, as illustrated in Plate VIII., Figs, la-lf. 

 Some of the specimens are entirely without color upon the dorsal field, which is white, 

 with a blackish central spot, or with blackish interrupted triangular lines. These variations 

 are not wholly dependent upon the moulting, as they exist in mature females, numbers of 

 which have been compared with a view to determining this fact. Hentz describes the 

 species as rather inclined to be nocturnal in its habits, being motionless during the day, 

 but active after sunset. It runs with great speed, leaping like an Attus (E. prompta). Its 

 snare is usually pitched upon shrubs and bushes and among grasses and weeds, and 

 resembles that of E. strix. I have seen it sitting upon its hub in a position which is 

 sometimes assumed by its congeners, the abdomen partly resting upon the broken lines of 

 the hub. The spider matures in June and July, and the young are found later in the 

 season. 



Ceph.\lothor.\x: High in the middle, sharply sloping to the truncated base; sides 

 rounded; dorsal fos.se a rather deep slit placed on the sloping base below the crest; 

 cephalic suture distinct; head sloping toward the front; skin smooth, provided with yellow 

 hairs; corselet brown, with flecks of yellow, the head yellow or yellowish brown, as is also 

 the face, except at the posterior part of the ocular quad ; partly covered with whitish 

 hairs. Mandibles colored as face and head. The sternum is shield shape, scarcely longer 

 than wide, with marked sternal cones ; the centre flattened, the color yellow, with patches 

 of yellow around the margins. Labium subtriangular, wide at the base, yellowish brown, 

 as ar« the maxillpe, which are wide as long. 



Eyes : Ocular quad on a marked prominence, this portion of the face, indeed, seeming 

 to be contracted ; the front slightly wider than rear, and about the width of the sides, the 

 quad forming nearly a square. MF somewhat smaller than ISIR, separated by twice their 

 diameter or more, and by an even less space from JIR; MR separated by about 1.5 to 1.7 

 their diameter. Side eyes propinquate, separated by about or less than a radius, nearly 

 equal in size, but less than those of the central group; MF separated from SF by about 

 1.3 their area, or more than twice the distance between them; height of clypeus about 1.5 

 diameter MF or more ; front row is slightly procurved, and decidedly so viewed from 

 behind and above ; the hind row is also procurved, and decidedly longer than the front 

 row, being set well to the side of SR instead of behind it, so much so that the two side 

 eyes appear to form the extremities of the front row. (Fig. Iq.) 



' Notes on the Nomenclature of Orbweavers, Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila., page 199. 



= Epeira cepina W. No. 13, p. 37 ; .\bbot, Nos. 173, 157. E. apatroga W. No. 23, p. 43 ; Abbot, Nos. 371, 

 373, 376. E. spatulata W. No. 24, p. 44; variety C; Abbot, Nos. 171, 366. E. illustrata W. No. 25, p. 45; 

 Abbot, Nos. 186, 187, 188. E. decolorata W. No. 29, p. 49; .\bbot, Nos. 345, 390. E. vividia W. No. 38, p. M ; 

 Abbot, No. 474. E. triflex W. No. 48, p. 60; Abbot, No. 112. E. trinotata W. No. 62, p. 75; Abbot, No. 272. 

 E. subfusca W. No. 63, p. 67 ; Abbot, No. 273. Thus this one most variable species has been described by 

 Walckenaer as eleven distinct species, and a number of varieties in addition is included under these 

 descriptions. A like confusion marks the descriptions of Professor Hentz, his Epeira prompta. E. hebes, 

 E. foliata, and E. bombycinaria being probably variously marked specimens of the same species. 



