300 
ARACHNIDES. 
long ; it resembles a little balloon, of a grey colour, with longi- 
tudinal black stripes, one of whose extremities is truncated and 
closed by a flat and silky operculum ; a fine down envelopes the 
eggs in its interior. This species weaves a A^ertical and irregular 
Aveb, in the middle of Avhich it remains, along the banks of rivu- 
lets, &c. Its thorax is covered with a soft and silvery down, 
and its abdomen is of a beautiful yellow, intersected at interA'-als 
with transverse brown, or blackish-brown lines, arcuated and 
slightly undulated. M. Leon Dufour, Ann. des Sc. Phys. VI, 
pi. xcv, 5, has gh^en a detailed description of this species, and of 
its habits, and was the first who ascertained the male. He has 
figured its sexual organ. The penis resembles a twisted seta. 
Ep. cucwhitina ; Aranea cucurbitina, L.; A. senoculata, Fab.; 
Walck. Hist, des Aran., Ill, iii. Small; abdomen ovoid and 
lemon-coloured, marked Avith black jjoints ; a red spot on the 
anus. It Aveaves a small horizontal Aveb betAveen the stems and 
leaves of plants. 
Ep. conica; Aranea contca, De Geer and Pall. ; Walck. Hist. 
Nat. des Aran., Ill, iii. Remarkable for its abdomen, Avhich is 
gibbous anteriorly and has a conical termination ; the anxis is 
placed in the centre of an eminence. When it has extracted 
the juices from an insect, it suspends it to a thread. 
Immediately after the conica, Ave may place the species called 
by Dufour Epe'ire cle I'opuntia — Ann. des Sc. Phys., V, Ixix, 3 
— from the circumstance of its ahvays Aveaving its loose and 
irregular Aveb among the leaves of the Agave and Opuntia. It 
is black, Avith white hairs laid close to the body, haAung an 
appearance of scales. The abdomen has tAvo pyramidal tuber- 
cles on each side, and terminates posteriorly in tAA'o others, 
Avhich are obtuse, and separated by a Avide emargination. The 
posterior face of each tubercle is marked Avith a beautiful snoAV- 
Avhite spot, resembling nacre ; these spots are connected Avith 
each other, and Avith one or tAVO more behind them, by white 
zig-zag lines. In the newly-hatched animal, these tubercles are 
not visible. The cocoons are oval, whitish, and formed of tAA’o 
coats, the interior of Avhich is a kind of toAV that em'^elopes the 
ova. Seven, eight, and even ten of these cocoons are frequently 
found arranged in file, or one after the other. From Catalonia 
and Valencia. 
Some of the species foreign to Europe are very remarkable. 
Here Ave observe that the abdomen is invested Avith an extremely 
firm skin, furnished Avith points or horny spines* ; and there the 
legs are provided Avith bundles of hairs f. 
* The Ar. milifaris, spinosa, cancriformis, hexacantlia, tefmeantha, rjeinina1a,forni- 
cata, of Fabriems. M. Vauthier, one of our best painters of subjects of natural 
history, has described and figured, Ann. des Sc. Nat., I, p. 161 , a species of this 
division — ctirvicauda — which is very remarkable for its posteriorly widened abdomen, 
terminated by two long arcuated .spines : it inhabits Java. These spinous species 
might form a peculiar subgenus. 
f The Ar. pilipts, clavipes, &c., of Fabricius. His Ar. maculala forms the genus 
Nephisa, Leach. See the Tab. and Hist, des, Aran, of Walckenaer. 
