190 ARACHNIDES. 



lines, arcuated and slightly undulated. M. Leon Dufour, Ann. 

 des Sc. Phys. VI, pi. xcv, 5, has given 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 resem- 

 bles a twisted seta. 



Ep. cucurhitina; Aranea cucurbitina, h.; Jl. senoculata, Fab.; 

 Walck. Hist, des Aran., IH, iii. Smallj abdomen ovoid and 

 lemon-coloured, marked with black points; a red spot on the 

 anus. It weaves a small horizontal web between the stems and 

 leaves of plants. 



Ep. conica; Aranea conica, De Geer and Pall.; Walck. Hist. 

 Nat. des Aran., Ill, iii. Remarkable for its abdomen, which is 

 gibbous anteriorly and has a conical termination; the anus 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, we may place the species called 

 by Dufour Epe'ire de Vopuntia — Ann. des Sc. Phys., V, Ixix, 3 

 — from the circumstance of its always weaving its loose and 

 irregular web among the leaves of the Agave and Opuntia. It 

 is black, with white hairs laid close to the body, having an 

 appearance of scales. The abdomen has two pyramidal tuber- 

 cles on each side, and terminates posteriorly in two others, 

 which are obtuse and separated by a wide emargination. The 

 posterior face of each tubercle is marked with a beautiful snow- 

 white spot, resembling nacre; these spots are connected with 

 each other, and with one or two more behind them, by white 

 zig-zag lines. In the newly-hatched aniinal, these tubercles are 

 not visible. The cocoons are oval, whitish, and formed of two 

 coats, the interior of which is a kind of tow that envelopes the 

 ova. Seven, eight, and even ten of these cocoons are frequently 

 found arranged in file, or one after another. From Catalonia 

 and Valencia. 



Some of the species foreign to Europe are very remarkable. 

 Here we observe the abdomen is invested with an extremely 

 firm skin, furnished with points or horny spines(l); and there 

 the legs are provided with bundles of hairs(2). 



(1) The .^r. miliiaris, spinosa, cancriformis, hexacantha, tetracantha, geminata, 

 fornicata, of Fabricius. M. Vauthier, one of our best painters of subjects of na- 

 tural history, has described and figured, Ann. des Sc. Nat., I, p. 161, a species of 

 this division — curvicauda — 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. 



(2) The .^r. pilipes, clavipes, &c., of Fabricius. His Ar. maculata forms the 

 genus Nephisa, Leach. See the Tab. and Hist, des Aran, of Walckenaer. 



