STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
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by cob-web like threads, around the little web within which it 
dwells. This is evident from the leaves as w r e see them in win¬ 
ter, being worm-eaten and having the castings of the worm, in 
the form of dry grains, still adhering to them. But the threads 
by which such worms tie the leaves together are so slight and 
fragile, that the leaves forming their nests are all torn off and 
dispersed by the storms of autumn. In some instances, however, 
it appears that after the worm has evacuated this abode, another 
tenant takes possession of it, finding it to be the very situation 
which he desires for his winter quarters. This new occupant is 
a small spider, which ties the leaves anew, with threads of its 
own, numerous threads being woven together, forming a narrow 
fillet or ribbon which is so strong that although the leaves flut¬ 
ter and rustle with every breeze, they are not torn away by the 
most violent winds of winter. And within the leaves this spider 
forms for itself a little oval cot of soft silken threads of snowy 
whiteness and matted densely together, within which as in a bed 
of down, it reposes through the winter in comfort and security. 
This spider is very closely allied to an Alabama species, named 
Epeira displicata, by Prof. Hentz in his valuable monograph of 
the spiders of the United States, published in the Boston Jour¬ 
nal of Natural History, (vol. v. p. 476.) It however is suffi¬ 
ciently distinguished from that species by wanting the impressed 
black dots on the anterior part of the abdomen, and by its col¬ 
ors. In allusion to the circumstance which will probably cause 
this minute object to be most frequently noticed, I propose to 
name it 
The deceiving spider (Epeira decipiens'). As it occurs in its nest in the 
winter season, this spider is 0.12 long, and of a pale brown color, reddish 
brown beneath, the head and legs being paler brown or yellowish horn colored, 
sometimes with a greenish tinge. The abdomen is nearly globular, slightly 
depressed, and is surrounded horizontally with a whitish band. Posteriorly 
upon the upper side of this band is a row of six large equidistant black dots, 
each of which is encircled with a pale yellow ring. Behind the two posterior 
dots are two very minute ones, which are encircled in the same manner. The 
spinnerets at the tip of the abdomen are olive green. There are traces of two 
white cloud-like stripes along the middle of the abdomen, and in a particular 
reflection of the light it appears to be crossed by imperfect white bands. The 
legs are furnished with blackish bristles. As in several of the other species of 
this extensive genus the two upper or posterior eyes are largest and arc almost 
in contact with each other, and the two outer ones upon each side are contlu- 
