171 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THKIR SPINNINGWORK. 



LEGS: The legs 1, 2, 4, 3, as follows: 10.6, 9.3, 9, 5.7 mm. They are yellow or yellowish 

 brown, varying to orange brown, with dark annuli not only upon the tips of the joints 

 but between them. They are well covered with yellowish hairs, long upon the femora, 

 and not numerously, with light colored spines with dark bases, which are rather long and 

 thin. The palps are colored as the legs, but not so strongly annulated. 



ABDOMEN : The abdomen is subtriangular, widest at the base, which is somewhat con- 

 tracted at the middle front, where it greatly overhangs the cephalothorax. The posterior 

 part is truncated, and the spinnerets set immediately beneath the apical wall. The apex 

 in many specimens is smooth (Fig. Ih), but others, particularly those received from the 

 Pacific Coast, have a blunt caudal tubercle. (Fig. In.) The color is yellow, mottled with 

 black spots upon the margin. The folium consists of a dark brown triangular figure, open 

 at the base, where it is widest, and with a toothed or zigzag margin, which narrows 

 towards the apex. A median line of dark color extends from the front to the apex, with 

 dentations corresponding with the margin, and flanked on either side by lighter color. 

 The sides are marked by a wavy yellow band; the venter is usually a broad reticulated 

 patch of yellow or yellowish brown between the gills and the spinnerets, marked on either 

 side of the median by a row of three or four black circular spots. The epigynum (Figs. 

 Ik and lui) has a long conical scapus, very wide at the base and diminishing to a sharp 

 point. 



MALE: Fig. 3. Length, about 4 mm.; abdomen, 2.3 mm. long, 2.1 mm. broad. On 

 the abdomen the male shows the same variety of markings as in the female, with perhaps, 

 judging from the specimens in hand, a tendency to an excess of cretaceous upon the dorsal 

 field. The abdomen appears to lack the caudal tubercle which marks the apex of the 

 female. The cephalic fosse is deeper and longer than, and the cephalic suture not quite as 

 distinct as in the female, and the head apparently more depressed and more contracted at 

 the face. The eyes are as in the female, except that the central prominence is more 

 marked, side rear eyes if anything set even a little lower than in the female ; moreover, 

 the ocular quad is a trifle wider in front than behind, instead of being a trifle narrower, 

 as with the female. Digital joint of the palp is distinct, as at Fig. 3a. 



DISTRIBUTION : I have collected this spider along the Atlantic Coast from New England 

 southward to Florida, and westward through Pennsylvania and Ohio and in Texas. It is 

 found to the north in Wisconsin (Professor Peckham), and I have numerous specimens 

 from the Pacific Coast (Dr. Ulaisdell, Mr. Curtis, and others), and from Utah. It is found 

 throughout our Southern States, in Mexico, and Central America. It may therefore be 

 regarded as a continental species, and is probably found with some variations in the 

 northern belt of the South American States. 



E. anastera, variety conchlea McCooK. Plate VIII, Fig. in. 



In the proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, 1888, page 199, I distinguish 

 under the above name those examples of E. anastera which have a decided caudal tubercle 

 upon the dorsum of the abdomen. The specimens bearing this characteristic seem as a 

 rule to be larger and to have more sharply outlined and darker markings, but in other 

 respects do not substantially differ from the typical form as above described. The variety 

 is abundant, and indeed prevalent, in California and Florida. 



No. 32. E. eustalina MARX, variety E. anastera. Plate VIII, Fig. ip. 



1889. Epeira fiiftatina, MARX Catalogue, p. 545 (Keyserlin;: in lift.}. 



Under the above name Count Keyserling in his manuscript notes described as a 

 separate species what I take to be simply one of the numerous variations of E. anastera. 

 After examining examples named by Keyserling I see no reason for establishing thereon a 

 new species. 



