DESCRIPTION OF GENERA AND SPECIES. 219 



one, is palm shaped, and strongly toothed upon the edge. (See Plate II., Fig. 6.) The 

 males are found hanging upon the outer borders of the female's snare during August and 

 September, sometimes several individuals being in attendance upon one female. 



DISTRIBUTION : This fine spider, whose habits are so fully given in Volumes I. and II. 

 of this work, is well known to all frequenters of our fields, and is familiar to even the 

 most careless observer. It inhabits grasses, bushes, and generally low positions, on which it 

 spins a strong web, the central portion of which is covered thickly with a white shield- 

 like patch, from either extremity of which proceeds a broad zigzag ribbon. It is able to 

 capture the strongest insects in its mature stages; and feeds largely upon grasshoppers and 

 locusts. Its geographical distribution is almost coterminous with the United States. I have 

 collected specimens in New England, as far nortli as Massachusetts, Connecticut, and 

 Northern Illinois (Chicago), and southward along the Atlantic Coast as far as Florida. To 

 the southwest I have taken specimens in Texas, and have them from the Pacific Coast as 

 far south as San Diego, California. I also have specimens from the Rocky Mountains, and 

 from various points along the great plains and prairies, both east and west of the Mississippi 

 River. Northward specimens have been obtained from Minnesota and Wisconsin. It may 

 therefore be considered as distributed throughout the entire United States. In all locations 

 it appears to preserve the same habits, spins the same sort of web and cocoon, and, 

 whether in Southern California or Northern New England, remains in shape, color, and size 

 substantially the same. 



No. 72. Argiope argyraspis (WALCKENAER). Plate XV, Fig. 8; PI. XVI, Figs. 3, 4. 



1837. Epeiraargyraspides^VALCKEXAER. 1 Ins. Apt., ii., p. 110; ABBOT, G. S., No. 



1847. Epeira fasciala, HENTZ J. B. S., v., p. 468 ; Sp. U. S., p. 107, xii., 8. 



1873. Argiope fasciata, L. Kocn . . . . Arachniden Australiens, p. 133; pi. 10, Fig. 5. 



1882. Argiope fasciata, McCooK .... Proceed. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila., p. 256. 



1884. Argiope transvera, EMERTOM . . . N. E. Ep., p. 330, pi. 24, Fig. 20. 



1888. Argiope argyraspides, McCooK . . Proceed. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila., p. 1. 



1889. Argiope argyrastpu, 1 McCooK . . Amer. Spiders and their Spinningwork, Vol. I. 



1890. Argiope argyraspides, MARX . . . Catalogue, p. 541. 



FEMALE: Total length, 19 mm.; abdomen, 12 mm. long, 9 mm. wide; cephalothorax, 

 6.5 mm. long, 6 mm. wide, 3 mm. at the face. This spider is distinguished at once from 

 its congener, A. cophinaria, by the color and shape of its abdomen, which is truncated at 

 the base and pointed at the apex, in the younger specimens quite decidedly so, though the 

 young of cophinaria have the same form. The spinnerets are located rather further under- 

 neath, the abdomen being placed at least one-third of the distance from apex to base. 

 (Plate XV., Fig. 8.) Adult specimens differ much in size, from 16 mm. or less in length to 

 25 or 30 mm., as with some specimens from Southern California. 



CEPHALOTIIORAX : A long oval ; the corselet rounded at the margin, broadly truncated, 

 and indented at the base, low and flat; the fosse a conical pit; skin yellow, with wide 

 brownish patches on either side of the broad yellow median line; the margin yellow, with 

 strong grayish yellow bristles; the whole surface so covered with silvery white hairs that it 

 has a silvery gray lustre; caput narrow at the base, compressed at the middle, colored and 

 armored as the corselet, somewhat contracted towards the face. Sternum shield shape, wide 

 at base, rather rounded at margins, obtusely triangular at the apex, the centre a broad 

 yellow band ; strong yellow sternal cones ; color of margins brown ; the surface covered 

 thickly with strong hairs and stiff brownish bristles. Labium subtriangular, yellow, with 

 but a fleck of brown at the base, as are also the maxillse, which are somewhat longer than 

 wide, and sparsely covered with brown, curved, strong, spinous bristles. 



1 The proper term is undoubtedly " arfryraspis," and I use it in accordance with the author's 

 liberty to correct obvious errors in spelling. 



