186 Mr. J. Blackwall on the Structure, Functions, (Economy, 



193. Epeirafusca. 



Epeirafusca, Walck. Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt. t. ii. p. 84 ; Blackw. 



Linn. Trans, vol. xix. p. 127. 



Menardi, Latr. Gen. Crust, et Insect, torn. i. p. 108. 



Meta fiisca, Koch, Uebers. des Arachn. Syst. erstes Heft, p. 7 ; 



Die Arachn. B. viii. p. 118. tab. 285. fig. G85-687. 



Caves, cellars, overhanging banks and other obscure places 

 constitute the principal haunts of Epeira fusca in North Wales. 

 In autumn the female fabricates a large oviform cocoon of white 

 silk of so delicate a texture that the eggs, connected together by- 

 silken lines in a globular mass ^th of an inch in diameter, may 

 be seen distinctly within it. Its transverse axis measures about 

 j-^ths, and its conjugate axis y'yths of an inch, and it is attached 

 by numerous lines, generally forming a short pedicle at one ex- 

 tremity, to the walls or roofs of the places it inhabits. The 

 eggs, which are yellow and spherical, are between 400 and 500 

 in number. 



In transferring this species and Epeira antriada, included in 

 the genus Meta (Uebers. des Arachn. Syst. erstes Heft, p. 6), 

 from the Epeiridce to the Theridiida, and thus widely separating 

 them from a species so closely allied as Epeira inclinata, which 

 is suiFered to remain in the former family, M. Koch appears to 

 have lost sight of those principles of affinity and analogy which 

 aflford the only safe guide in the classification of natural objects. 



194. Epeira antriada. 



Epeira antriada, Walck. Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt. t. ii. p. 83 ; 



Blackw. Linn. Trans, vol. xix. p. 128. 

 Meta muraria, Koch, Die Arachn. B. viii. p. 125. tab. 288. fig. 693, 



694. 



Obscure damp situations are generally resorted to by this 

 spider, which is plentiful in many parts of England and Wales. 

 It spins an extensive net with an open circular space at the cen- 

 tre, which it usually occupies when watching for its prey ; from 

 this station it drops quickly to the ground on being disturbed, 

 regaining it when the danger is past by means of a line drawn 

 from the spinners in its descent, and previously attached to the 

 circumvolution of the unadhesive line bounding the central aper- 

 ture. Like Tetragnatha extensa, it has the habit of extending 

 the first and second pairs of legs in a line with the body. 



Immature individuals of the species Epeira antriada, Epeira 

 inclinata, Epeira cucurbitina and Epeira diadema, and adults of 

 the species Linyphia minuta and Linyphia tenuis, are frequently 

 infested by the Polysphincta carbonaria of Gravenhorst, which 



