DESCRIPTION OF GENERA AND SPECIES. 149 



their intervening space ; the margin of the clypeus is obliterated by the ocular prominence, 

 which comes to the very edge, the height being scarcely more than one diameter of MF; 

 all the eyes are upon black bases, thus appearing dark ; the front row recurved, the longer 

 rear row procurved ; a few whitish yellow bristles mark the eye space and margin of 

 clypeus. 



LEGS : 1, 2, 4, 3 ; yellow, with strong brown annuli ; stout, heavily armored with strong 

 brown spines and yellowish bristles and pubescence ; palps colored and armed as legs ; 

 mandibles rather long, conical, with yellowish pubescence at edges; the basal cog well 

 marked. 



ABDOMEN: Ovate, widest at base, narrowing to the distal spinnerets; doreum well 

 arched ; color yellow to yellowish white, with a brownish yellow folium, whose margins are 

 marked from middle to apex by a V-shaped figure of semicircular brownish patches, with 

 the concavity towards the base ; the centre of the dorsum is lighter yellowish ; the pattern 

 a broad arrow shaped marking, with side offshoots (Plate I., 8); from the median line curved 

 branchlets proceed on either side to the spinnerets ; the surface is reticulated and covered 

 thinly with soft, yellowish hairs. The lunette markings on the dorsum enable one to easily 

 identify tlie species, though something similar may be found in other species, especially in the 

 male of Epeira Benjamina. In some specimens the colors are reddish brown (Plate II., 6), 

 particularly on the abdomen; in others they are yellow and gray; the venter has a trun- 

 cated triangle of brown, flanked on either side by a broken yellow band, consisting usually 

 of three spots on either side ; the epigynum (Plate I., 8a) has a decided scapus, broadest at 

 tin- base, not tapering, flattened and spooned at the tip, resembling that of E. Benjamina; 

 the atriolum is narrow, and the portulte hidden by the projecting scapus. 



MALK : Length, 6 mm. ; abdomen, 3.5 mm. long, 2 mm. wide ; cephalothorax, 3 mm. 

 long, 2 mm. wide; colors and markings closely resembling those of the female, except that 

 the dorsal folium is often white, or whitish, instead of yellow, the colors generally inclined 

 to be a little paler. Tibia-II is somewhat curved, and armed along the entire inner side 

 by a double row of strong black clasping spines; these at the articulation with the patella 

 are flanked on the inside by two very long, strong, straight spines, and on the outer side 

 by three of a similar character, but shorter; the palp is represented at Plate I., Fig. 86. 

 This spider has sometimes been confused with small specimens of Epeira Benjamina. The 

 ocular quad of the latter species is relatively much wider in front ; also, the midfront eyes 

 are removed from the margin of the clypeus at least three times their diameter, while 

 in E. arabesca they are about one diameter therefrom. Moreover, the abdomen of Benja- 

 mina is rather flattened and triangular ovate, while that of Arabesca is rather ovate. E. 

 Benjamina is a much larger species. 



DISTRIBUTION : The United States. I have collected this species along the entire Atlantic 

 Coast, from New England to Florida, and as far west as Ohio. I have specimens from 

 Georgia, North Carolina, Florida, and Texas. It has been taken in Alabama, New Mexico, 

 Utah, and California. I have specimens from as far north as Wisconsin, and have captured 

 it in Canada in the neighborhood of Montreal. It also inhabits South America, where it 

 presents great variation in color and size. As far as my observation goes, it is not subject 

 in the United States to great variation in size, being rarely found longer than 8 mm., or 

 shorter than 6 mm. 



No. 9. Epeira cucurbitina (CLEKCK). Plate III., Figs. 1,2,3; PI. IV., Fig. 6. 



1757. Araneu* i->n'i<rli!t!>iiui, CLKRCK . . Svenska Spindlar, p. 44, pi. 2, tab. 4. 



1761. Aranca cucurbitina, LINNEUS . . Syst. Nat. Ed., 10, i., p. 620. 



1775. AniiiKi si-niirultiiii, FABRICIUS . . Entom. Syst., t. 2, p. 426, No. 71. 



1778. Epeira rii-iilix-/>iii<rt<i(<t, DK GEEK, Mem., vii., p. 233, pi. 14. 



1793. The Gourd Spider, MARTYN . . . Natural History of Spiders, p. 19, Spec. 12, pi. 2, 



Fig. 6. 



1805. Epeira cucurbitina, WALCKENAER, Tabl. des Aran., p. 63, No. 46. 



