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[Vol. 92 
the abdomen) and ovata (medial red band on the dorsum). Euro- 
pean researchers have found that local populations often differ in 
morph frequencies, and that average frequencies differ between 
geographic regions. We found preliminary evidence of similar vari- 
ability in North American populations of E. ovata. We recorded the 
phenotypes of 1107 spiders from several local populations, 50m to 
several km apart, in each of four areas: eastern Maine, western 
Massachusetts, eastern New York, and central New York. The 
overall frequency of lineata was .70 among the spiders from Massa- 
chusetts, but was close to .80 in the other three regions. The most 
striking geographic differences in frequency involved the ovata 
morph. This form was absent from all New York populations 
sampled, but occurred in all but two of the local populations from 
Massachusetts and Maine. Overall frequencies of ovata in the Mas- 
sachusetts and Maine samples were .03 and .06, respectively. In 
Maine, the most intensively sampled region, morph frequencies dif- 
fered significantly among local populations. The proportion of lin- 
eata varied from .70 to .96; ovata frequencies ranged from 0 to .15. 
These observations suggest that further examination of E. ovata in 
North America may uncover morph frequency differences between 
populations comparable to those in Europe. Since E. ovata is likely 
a recent immigrant to North America, more detailed information 
from this continent could yield valuable comparative data on a cu- 
rious phenomena whose evolutionary basis is still unexplained. 
Appendix 
Oxford (1976) found variation in coloration and patterning of the 
three morphs, particularly among laboratory-reared spiders. Hippa 
and Oksala (1979, 1981) also found that morphs were not always 
distinct, and furthermore, that in some groups the red coloration 
was not expressed until either the third instar or the final molt. 
Recently, Hippa and Oksala (1982) cited evidence from studies of 
variability in genitalia structure that some populations of E. ovata 
may consist of more than one species, contrary to previous interpre- 
tations of Levi (1957, 1967). 
This recent information complicates the situation, but does not 
detract from the usefulness of our findings, for three reasons: 
(1) Only a very few intermediate forms appeared in our sam- 
ple of over 1000 spiders. 
