258 



This handsome spider is ahundant, in the adult state, in early 

 autumn on furze hushes on Bloxworth Heath, as well as on low 

 shruhs and bushes in plantations, but I have never yet found it 

 in such positions as those given above for Zilla X-notata. Mr. 

 Blackwall mentions " buildings and crevices in rocks and walls " 

 among tho haunts of Zilla atrica. I have never, however, found 

 it in any locality in England in such a position, and I cannot help 

 thinking that Mr. Blackwall may perhaps have occasionally 

 mistaken Zilla X-notata for the present spider. 



I have received this species from various parts of England and 

 Scotland. 



GENUS EPEIEA, Walch EPEIEA, Blaehw., in part. 



The genus Epeira comprises a considerable number of orbicular- 

 snare -spinning spiders, in fact by far the greater part of those which 

 are at present known to inhabit Great Britain. They may be 

 distinguished, for the most part, from the genera of the Family 

 Epeirides, hitherto characterised, by their longer, stronger legs, 

 tho spines on which are also stronger, especially those on the tibiae 

 of the second pair in the males. The three groups of eyes also are, 

 usually, more widely separated from each other, and the abdomen 

 of the more typical species is broader and more convex at the 

 anterior extremity than at the hinder part, being of a some- 

 what sub-triangular form, and often angularly prominent on each 

 side of the fore part. 



The thoracic region is usually round-oval, and the caput 

 generally rather long, broadish, but somewhat depressed in 

 front, and strongly constricted on the lateral margins. The 

 ocular region is prominont, and tho ctypeus very low. The 

 maxillse and labium are like those of Singa. The palpi of the 

 male are very short, and the palpal organs very prominent and 

 complex. 



Twenty-two species have hitherto been recorded in Great 

 Britain, and, of these, sixteen have been found in Dorsetshire, 

 including some of our largest, most abundant and handsomest 

 spiders. 



