142 THU AMERICAN MIDLAND NATURALIST 



complete list of the names under which the species has been des- 

 cribed : 



Argiope Aurantia, Lucas, 1833, 



Argiope vestita, Koch, 1839 



Argiope riparia, Hentz, 1847 



Argiope riparia, Rmerton, Conn. Acad. 1884. 



Argiope sutrix, Hentz 1847 



Argiope multiconcha, Treat, Am. Nat, 87. p. 1122. 



Argiope Cophinaria, McCook, Am. spiders, '94, p. 217. 



Argiope per sonata, Cambridge, Biol. Cent. Am. Arach., 1, p. 10, '90. 



Argiope Godmani, Cambridge, Biol. Cent. A,. Arach., 1, p. 336, '98. 



Miranda Aurantia, Comstock, Spider Book, p. 434, 191 2. 



The question of priority of nomenclature has not received 

 much attention. Authors that mention the species seem to fix on 

 the name that they consider correct and use it without, in most 

 instances, a reference to other names. The species has been known 

 most commonly under the name, Epeira riparia, given to it by 

 Hentz in 1847, and under the name Epeira cophinaria, given to it 

 by Walckenaer in 1837. But as early as 1830, Lucas had described 

 and figured the species as Aurantia. This name, therefore, has the 

 claim of priority. As to the generic name, this is to be said : Argiope 

 is undoubtedly the older name, but, for many reasons, the best of 

 which is to be found in a very desirable rearrangement of all allied 

 genera, F. O. Pickard-Cambridge in the Biologia Central Am., 

 separated the genus Miranda from the genus Argiope. The best 

 modern scholarship, therefore, seems to indicate that the name 

 Miranda Aurantia is to be preferred. 



The average adult female of the species has all the general 

 characteristics of the order Araneida. The cephalothorax is nearly 

 as wide as long, and is covered with silvery white hairs except around 

 the eyes. The abdomen is oval, a little pointed behind and square 

 in front, with two small humps at the corners. The ground color 

 is black marked with bright yellow or orange spots. On each lateral 

 margin of the abdomen, the yellow spots form an almost continuous 

 band. There is a black band between these two rows of spots, and 

 in this there are from one to three pairs of yellow spots. In most of 

 the specimens examined by the writer, two pairs of spots were found. 

 The color of the ventral side is black, with a yellow stripe on the 

 sternum, and two rather wide yellow stripes on the abdomen with 

 small yellow spots between and at the sides. 



The male differs considerably from the female. It is much 



