EPfilRA. 
325 
white spots on the upper part of the abdomen, which are usually conspicuous, serve to dis¬ 
tinguish it from other nearly allied species. 
The male is much smaller than the female, and its colours are darker, but it resembles 
her in the design formed by their distribution. The tibiae of the first and second pairs of 
legs are abundantly supplied with strong, black spines on their anterior surface, and the 
maxillae have a conical process on the outer side, immediately before the insertion of the 
palpi. The cubital and radial joints of the palpi are short; the former has two long bristles 
at its extremity, in front; and the latter, which is the larger, is very prominent on the outer 
side, and has a strong, obtuse apophysis at its extremity, underneath ; the digital joint is of 
an elongated oval form, ■with an obtuse, black process at its base curved outwards; it is 
convex and hairy externally, concave within, comprising the palpal organs, which are very 
highly developed, prominent, very complicated in structure, and of a dark-brown colour, 
tinged with red. The convex sides of the digital joints are directed towards each 
other. 
T his large and handsome Epeira appears to prefer wild uncultivated districts, and is not 
uncommon in many parts of England and Wales. It pairs in autumn, and in October the 
female attaches to the stems of heath or gorse a subglobose cocoon composed of coarse 
yellow silk of a looseish texture, measuring seven tenths of an inch in diameter, which some¬ 
times comprises between 900 and 1000 spherical eggs of a yellow colour, agglutinated 
together in a lenticular form. In constructing the cocoon the female presses her spinners 
against the mass of eggs and attaches a compound line to it, then drawing out the line by 
elevating the body, she again applies the spinners to the eggs and cements the line to them 
in the form of a small loop; this operation is continued (the lines being united to each 
other when the eggs are covered) till the cocoon is completed, and, as it consists of a con¬ 
geries of short silken loops, it cannot be otherwise than loose in texture. 
The snare of this spider has the appearance of being constructed with geometrical pre¬ 
cision, and is similar in design to the nets fabricated by the Epeiridce generally. Near the 
snare, and connected with its centre by a strong line, the spider constructs a dome-shaped 
cell of compact white silk which it usually occupies. 
Epeira apoclisa. PI. XXIII, fig. 237. 
Epeira apoclisa, Walck., Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt., tom. ii, p. 61. 
— — Sund., Yet. Acad. Handl., 1832, p. 243. 
— — Hahn, Die Arachn., Band ii, p. 30, tab. 48, fig. 116. 
— arundinacea, Koch, Uebers. des Arachn. Syst., erstes Heft., p. 2. 
— — Koch, Die Arachn., Band xi, p. 109, tab. 385, fig. 913. 
Titulus, 6, Lister, Hist. Animal. Angl., De Aran., p. 36, tab. 1, fig- 6. 
Length of the female, #hs of an inch ; length of the cephalo-thorax, |th, breadth, 5 th ; 
breadth of the abdomen, f 6 ths; length of an anterior leg, fths; length of a leg of the third 
P a ir, -jjths. 
