1122 General Notes. [Dec, 
Argiope riparia var. multiconcha.—For the past two years 
I have been studying an Argiope, which has sufficiently marked 
characteristics to entitle it to the rank of a variety of A. riparia, 
if not to a distinct species. The female is larger than any speci- 
men I have seen of A. riparia, and she makes a group of cocoons, 
usually four, sometimes five, which she hangs in a cluster by the 
side of her snare, in the midst of an abundance of bright yellow, 
flossy silk. The cocoons are fashioned like those of A. riparia, 
and are about the same size. In honor of these multiple cocoons 
I call the spider Argiope riparia var. multiconcha. 
Female 23 mm. long, first legs 33 mm. in length. The cephalo- 
thorax is about 9 mm. long, and nearly as wide as it is long, an 
covered with white hairs close up to the eyes. The two first 
legs are black, and the rest have the femora a deep orange-color. 
The abdomen is oval, and on the front is a sharp-pointed hump 
at each corner. The back of the abdomen is black. interspersed 
with deep orange, darker than that of A. riparia, and the color is 
more irregular in outline than in riparia. 3 
e under side of the body is colored and marked like A. ripa- 
gia, and the epigynum is covered in the same way by a long 
' -black process. 
The young dook very different from the adult spider. Before 
the last moult there are five transverse bands of white and brown 
on the back of the abdomen. All of the legs are annulated with 
white and gray. i ; 
This spider lives in Guthrie, Missouri, and probably in other 
places. It frequents more sheltered places than our A. 71pai@. 
It likes to make its home under the roof of a piazza, and some- 
times gets into houses, where, if undisturbed, it will hang its 
cocoons. I have a set of four cocoons that were made in 4 
kitchen where a great cooking-stove was in almost constant use 
to supply the demands of a large family.—Mary Treat. 
__ The Migration of the American Magpie to Eastern Nebraska, 
Twenty-five Years ago.—In Goss’s “ Birds of Kansas,” bee's 
35, the magpie (P. hudsonica) is mentioned as “an occasional ga 
and winter visitant in Western Kansas,” no mention being Ma 
of the magpie in Eastern Kansas. Dr. Aughey, in his 
“Birds of Nebraska,” 1880, says “the magpie exists in Western 
and Northern Nebraska.” Dr. L. E. Hicks, State University, in A ‘ 
private letter, dated November 4, 1887, says, “ I have not 
the magpie in Eastern Nebraska, and only one in the w 
part: in Dawes County, last month. I have reliable page 4 
is rather 
of a pair nesting near Grand Island. They undoubte 
Nebraska.” 
Hence it is safe to conclude that the magpie (1887 ) 
nr bird in Eastern Nebraska, and most especially in the south- 
list of 
astern portion of the State. Such was not the case twenty wes 
