DESCRIPTION OF GENERA AND SPECIES. 251 



No. 100. Nephila Wilder!, McCooK. Plate VII, Figs. 1, 2; PI. XXIII, 6, 7. 



1839. Nephila plumipes, KOCH, C. L. . . Die Arach., vi., p. 128, pi. 213, Fig. 529. 



1873. NepJdla plumipes, WILDER .... Trans. Amer. Assocn. Adv. Sci., p. 263. 



1889. Nephila Wilderi, McCooK .... Amer. Spid. and their Spinningwork, Vol. I., p. 146. 



1889. Nephila plumipes, MARX Catalogue, p. 551. 



FEMALE : Total length, 23 mm. ; cephalothorax, 9 mm. long, 7 mm. wide, 6 mm. across 

 the face ; abdomen, 20 mm. long, 7 mm. wide at the base, tapering to 5 mm. at the apex. 

 The spider described as Nephila plumipes, and figured by Koch as above, is undoubtedly 

 the species which abounds upon our Gulf Coast. But the specific name has already been 

 appropriated for another species of the genus, the Epeira plumipes of Latreille. 1 That 

 species resembles N. plumipes of Koch, but differs from it in having two tubercles, or 

 horny processes, upon the base of the caput, near the corselet fosse. For this reason a new 

 name becomes necessary, and already I had suggested the name of N. Wilderi, in honor of 

 Professor Wilder, of Cornell University, whose interesting observations and experiments 

 have made the life history of the species so well known. 



CEPHALOTHORAX : A long oval, squarely truncated at the base ; thin, much depressed in 

 the centre, at the fosse, which is a lateral pit; corselet grooves abbreviated, or represented 

 by circular hollows ; cephalic suture distinct near the base ; caput elevated above the 

 corselet ; subtriangular at the apex, where it is cut straight across by the fosse ; enlarging 

 to the face, which is wide, strong, and but little depressed; summit of caput arched, the 

 base without horns; color uniform dark brown, in older specimens particularly, but con- 

 cealed largely by a thick coat of silvery white hairs. Sternum shield shape, somewhat 

 longer than wide, dark brownish or brownish yellow color, rather heavily covered witli 

 yellowish pubescence; sternal cones strong, particularly before coxse-I, and in front of 

 labium, where the cone is unusually high, and its base fully half that part of the organ. 

 Labium elongated and rounded at the point; a little humped in the middle; silvery white 

 pubescence on the edges and base. Maxillae about one-third longer (3 mm.) than labium 

 (2 mm.), narrow at base, widening at tips, which are subtriangular, and inclined toward 

 one another; ruddy brown, but at the tips glossy black brown, and covered sparingly with 

 bristles ; the inner edges concave. 



EYES: Ocular quad on an eminence, highest and most projecting in front, longer than 

 wide, narrower in front than behind ; eyes not greatly differing in size, but MF apparently 

 somewhat larger; these are separated by about two diameters; MR by three diameters; 

 side eyes on the outer edges of strong corneous tubercles, which project much in front; 

 nearly equal in size, but SF slightly larger, and separated by 1.5 to 2 diameters. SF 

 removed from MF by 1.5 the area of the latter, or by about 2.3 the dividing space; the 

 distance of SR from MR is greater ; front eye row well recurved, rear row procurved ; the 

 clypeus has the height of 3 to 3.5 diameters MF ; clusters of hair come up to the bases of 

 the tubercles upon the sides, and surround the base of the ocular quad. 



LEGS: 1, 2, 4, 3; the third leg being relatively quite short; not stout, the joints long 

 and narrowing much towards the tips ; they are dark yellow or yellowish brown, with 

 brown annuli at the tips of joints ; the patella short, dark brown ; the tips of the femora 

 and tibiae of legs-I and II are provided with brushes of bristles arranged upon the outside 

 and inside thereof, the hairs standing quite thickly, and curved forward ; leg-IV has a 

 similar brush upon the extremity of the tip ; leg-Ill is without a brush, but has a slight 

 thickening of bristles, both above and below, on the tibia, which is relatively short; color 

 of legs a ruddy yellow, except the tarsus and extremity of the metatarsus, which are black 

 or blackish ; joints quite abundantly provided with short, black spines. Palps dark yellow, 

 or lighter brown at the humeral and axillary joints, darkening much on the other joints. 

 The digital joint is nearly twice the length of the radial, and the latter is at least 1.5 

 times the length of the cubital joint, which is short ; the humeral joint has, underneath 

 the entire length, a thick row of bristles, and these are abundant on the other joints. The 



1 Latreille : Nat. Hist, des Insectes, Vol. VII., page 275, No. 86. Walckenaer (Apt. Ins. II., page 93) 

 regards this species as identical with his E. antipodiana. 



