1940] 
Notes on Epeira pentagona 
61 
globose with two pairs of widely separated tubercles; in 
male on anterior femora a ventral basal median row of 
short spines. 
Genotype : Epeira ? pentagona Hentz. 
The genus is named in honor of Nicholas Marcellus Hentz, 
the founder of American araneology. Nicholasia is sepa- 
rated from Dolichognatha O. P. Cambridge by the very 
broad truncate tip of the labium, fewer teeth on the in- 
ferior margin of the mandibles and by the male palpus 
which has a dorsal apophysis on the basal third of the 
cymbium and a much simpler palpus. Dolichognatha tigrina 
Simon from Venezuela and St. Vincent probably belongs to 
this genus since it has a dorsal apophysis on the cymbium 
and a very similar palpus. 
Nicholasia pentagona (Hentz) 
Figure 1 
Epeira ? pentagona Hentz, Journ. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., 
1850, 6, p. 18, pi. 3, fig. 1 ; reprint, p. 120, pi. 14, fig. 1. 2 
Cyrtophora tuberculata Keyserling, Die Spinnen Ameri- 
kas, 1893, 4, Epeiridse, p. 265, pi. 14, fig. 197. 2 . 
Female. Length, 3.0 mm., ceph. 1.5 mm., abd. 2.0 mm. 
long, 2.1 mm. high. 
Cephalothorax pale yellow, cephalic portion dark, poste- 
rior lateral margins with a narrow dark line, cephalic por- 
tion very high, strongly arched, narrow, lateral margins 
parallel, no thoracic groove ; eyes, anterior row weakly 
recurved, eyes equidistant, separated by more than a radius 
of a.m.e., a.m.e. largest of the eight, posterior row slightly 
shorter than anterior, straight, p.m.e. smallest of the eight, 
touching, p.l.e. slightly smaller than a.l.e., lateral eyes on 
separate tubercles, not connected and eyes separated by a 
diameter of p.l.e. ; clypeus less than a diameter of a.m.e. ; 
quadrangle of median eyes wider in front and higher than 
wide; mandibles brown, vertical, very long and narrow, 
two-thirds as long as cephalothorax, no boss, tips slightly 
divergent, inner margin near tip excavate, with a few 
hairs on front surface, fang groove slightly oblique, in- 
ferior margin with two teeth; labium much wider than 
