DESCRIPTION OF GENERA AND SPECIES. 149 
their intervening space; the margin of the clypeus is obliterated by the ocular prominence, 
which comes to the very edge, the height being scarcely more than one diameter of MF; 
all the eyes are upon black bases, thus appearing dark; the front row recuryed, the longer 
rear row procurved; a few whitish yellow bristles mark the eye space and margin of 
clypeus. 
Leas: 1, 2, 4, 3; yellow, with strong brown annuli; stout, heavily armored with strong 
brown spines and yellowish bristles and pubescence; palps colored and armed as legs ; 
mandibles rather long, conical, with yellowish pubescence at edges; the basal cog well 
marked, 
AnpomEN: Ovate, widest at base, narrowing to the distal spinnerets; dorsum well 
arched; color yellow to yellowish white, with a brownish yellow folium, whose margins are 
marked from middle to apex by a V-shaped figure of semicircular brownish patches, with 
the concavity towards the base; the centre of the dorsum is lighter yellowish ; the pattern 
a broad arrow shaped marking, with side offshoots (Plate I., 8); from the median line curved 
branchlets proceed on either side to the spinnerets; the surface is reticulated and covered 
thinly with soft, yellowish hairs. The lunette markings on the dorsum enable one to easily 
identify the species, though something similar may be found in other species, especially in the 
male of Epeira Benjamina. In some specimens the colors are reddish brown (Plate II., 6), 
particularly on the abdomen; in others they are yellow and gray; the venter has a trun- 
cated triangle of brown, flanked on either side by a broken yellow band, consisting usually 
of three spots on either side; the epigynum (Plate I., 8a) has a decided scapus, broadest at 
the base, not tapering, flattened and spooned at the tip, resembling that of E. Benjamina; 
the atriolum is narrow, and the portule hidden by the projecting scapus. 
Mate: Length, 6 mm. ; abdomen, 3.5 mm. long, 2 mm. wide; cephalothorax, 3 mm. 
long, 2 mm. wide; colors and markings closely resembling those of the female, except that 
the dorsal folium is often white, or whitish, instead of yellow, the colors generally inclined 
to be a little paler. Tibia-II is somewhat curved, and armed along the entire inner side 
by a double row of strong black clasping spines; these at the articulation with the patella 
are flanked on the inside by two very long, strong, straight spines, and on the outer side 
by three of a similar character, but shorter; the palp is represented at Plate I., Fig. 86. 
This spider has sometimes been confused with small specimens of Epeira Benjamina. The 
ocular quad of the latter species is relatively much wider in front; also, the midfront eyes 
are removed from the margin of the clypeus at least three times their diameter, while 
in E. arabesca they are about one diameter therefrom. Moreover, the abdomen of Benja- 
mina is rather flattened and triangular ovate, while that of Arabesca is rather ovate. E. 
Benjamina is a much larger species. 
Disrripution: The United States. I have collected this species along the entire Atlantic 
Coast, from New England to Florida, and as far west as Ohio. I have specimens from 
Georgia, North Carolina, Florida, and Texas. It has been taken in Alabama, New Mexico, 
Utah, and California. I have specimens from as far north as Wisconsin, and have captured 
it in Canada in the neighborhood of Montreal. It also inhabits South America, where it 
presents great variation in color and size. As far as my observation goes, it is not subject 
in the United States to great variation in size, being rarely found longer than 8 mm., or 
shorter than 6 mm. 
No. 9. Epeira cucurbitina (Currck). Plate III., Figs. 1, 2,3; Pl. IV., Fig. 6. 
1757. Araneus cucurbitinus, CLerck . . Svenska Spindlar, p. 44, pl. 2, tab. 4. 
1761. Aranea cucurbitina, Linneus . . Syst. Nat. Ed., 10, i., p. 620. 
1775. Aranea senoculaia, Fanricius . . Entom. Syst., t. 2, p. 426, No. 71. 
1778. Epeira viridis-punctata, De Grrr, Mem., vii., p. 233, pl. 14. 
1793. The Gourd Spider, Marryn. . . Natural History of Spiders, p. 19, Spec. 12, pl. 2, 
Fig. 6. 
1805. Hpeira cucurbitina, WaucKkenarr, Tabl. des Aran., p. 63, No. 46. 
