208 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



scarcely contingent; SR placed well below and to tlie side of SF; the clyiseus is high, more 

 than the area of MF. Both rows are greatly procurved, the rear row the longer. 



Legs: Order, 1, 2, 4, 3; short, stout, yellow to orange yellow in color, covered with 

 grayish yellow bristles abundantly, but apparently without spines; the i:)alps are colored 

 and armed as the legs ; the mandibles conical, well compressed at the tips, yellowish brown, 

 covered with hairs at the base and inside. 



Abdomen : Carried in a plane almost at right angles to that of the corselet, is cylin- 

 drical-ovate, broadened at the base, where there are two thick cones, whose summits are 

 bifid ; at the anterior bases of these cones and from the middle point of the abdominal front 

 ])rojects forward a smaller similar cone ; the whole base of the abdomen is thus much 

 roughened ; the color is dull yellow, with a blackish band between the shoulder humps 

 and an irregular semicircular patch of yellow upon the dorsal field ; the whole surface is 

 thickly covered with gray hairs ; the spinnerets are distal ; the venter a brownish band ; 

 the epigyuum (Fig. 6a) has a short bowllike scapus extending from the atriolum between 

 the portulse. 



Distribution : Florida. (Marx Collection.) Cambridge describes the species from Panama, 

 and it will probably be found along the entire Gulf Coast of the United States. 



Genus GEA, C. Koch, 1843. 



In Gea the base of the head is flattened and marked by slight tubercles on either side 

 of the median line. The caput is depressed at the base, elevated at the face. The 

 sternum is cordate, about as wide at the base as long, with sternal cones. The labium 

 is subtriangular ; the maxillse are gibbous, somewhat longer than wide. The space between 

 the midfront and sidefront eyes is but little, if any, greater than that between the mid- 

 front ; the space between the midrear and the siderear eyes, on the contrary, is much 

 greater than between tlie midrear eyes. The front row is slightly procurved, almost 

 aligned; the rear row, which is considerably longer, is very much procurved. The clypeus 

 is moderately high. The legs are, in order of length, 1, 2, 4, 3; stout, and well provided 

 with bristles and spines; the mandibles are rather long, somewhat conical, slightly retreat- 

 ing backwards. The abdomen is a long oval, truncate at the ba.se, but little arched upon 

 the dorsum, which is marked ))y prominent shoulder humps and smaller tubercles. The 

 spinnerets are distal ; the skin soft and with metallic white or silvery lustre. 



No. 62. Gea heptagon (Hentz). Plate XII, Figs. 8, 8a-<l. 



1850. Epeira heptagon, Hentz J. B. S., vi., p. 20; Sp. U. S., p. 122, xiv., 4, 5, 0; 



xviii., 52, 72. 



1890. Gea heptagon, Marx Catalogue, p. 541. 



1892. Gea heptagon, Keyserling .... Spinn. Amerik., Epeir., p. 76, iii., 58. 



Female : Total length, 5 mm. ; cephalothorax, 2 mm. long, 1.75 mm. wide ; abdomen, 

 3.5 mm. long, 3 mm. wide. General colors for the fore part of the body are dark brown, 

 with yellowish and blackish, the abdomen being dark, with silvery marks. I have no 

 mature male, but an immature one from Georgia, nearly full grown, closely resembles the 

 female in size and markings. 



Cephalothorax : Oval, well rounded at the margin ; fosse a longitudinal depression ; 

 corselet grooves and cephalic suture distinct; color brown, with a light margin of yellow, 

 and yellow flecks along the corselet grooves; base of the head flattened and marked by 

 very slight tubercles on either side of the median line, the color yellow, with brown 

 patches on the sides and towards the vertex; the caput is depres.sed at the base, and 

 elevated at the face. Sternum (Fig. 8c) cordate, nearly as wide at the base as long, with 

 sternal cones ; color brown on the edges, with a broad median band of yellow, with lateral 

 branches to the sternal cones; slightly pubescent; lip subtriangular, yellowish; maxilte 



