and Systematic Arrangement of British Spiders. 185 



Sometimes this species places its net in situations not entirely 

 suiTOunded by objects to which it can immediately proceed to 

 iittach boundary-lines. In such cases its operations are deserving 

 of attention. After connecting several radii with the most ac- 

 cessible points, it fixes a filament to that extremity of one of 

 them which is furthest from the centre of its net : along this 

 radius the spider proceeds, drawing out the filament from the 

 spinners and guiding it with the claws of a posterior leg, till the 

 point of union with one of the adjacent radii is attained ; upon 

 ibis radius it steps, and passing to its other extremity there 

 makes fast the filament, by this simple process connecting with 

 marginal lines distant objects between which no direct commu- 

 nication previoiisly existed. 



Epeira calophylla presents a striking example of the insuffi- 

 ciency of the characters employed by M. Koch in distributing 

 the Araneidea into genera and families : though connected with 

 the Epeiridce by the closest relations of affinity, yet he has placed 

 it in his genus Eucharia, which he includes in the family The- 

 ridiidce (Uebers. des Arachn. Syst. crstes Heft, p. 7). 



191. Epeira cucui'hitina. 



Epeira cucurbitina, Walck. Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt. t. ii. p. 7^ ; 



Latr. Gen. Crust, et Insect, torn. i. p. 107; Sund. Vet. Acad. 



Handl. 1832, p. 245. 

 Miranda cucurbitina, Koch, Die Arachn. B. v. p. .53. tab. 159. 



fig. 371, 372. 

 Titulus 5, Lister, Hist. Animal. Angl. De Aran. p. 34. t. 1. fig. 5. 



In well-wooded districts this species is not uncommon. The 

 sexes pair in June, and the female attaches to the stems or leaves 

 of shrubs, in the vicinity of her snai'e, a subglobose cocoon of 

 bright yellow silk of a loose texture, measuring f rds of an inch 

 in diameter, w^hieh usually contains 150 or 160 spherical eggs of 

 a yellow colour, cemented together in a subglobose mass, and 

 enveloped in fine, soft, yellow silk. 



Arachnologists affirm that the small net spun by Epeira cucur- 

 bitina is always placed horizontally ; but this is a mistake, as I 

 have frequently seen it in an inclined position. 



192. Epeira ornata. 



Epeira ornata, Blackw. Ann. and Mag. of Nat. Hist. Second Series, 

 vol. vi. p. 342. 



A specimen of this showy Epeira is in Mr. Walker's cabinet. 

 It was taken in April 1848, but in what locahty is not stated. 



