EPEIRA. 
827 
extremity of these organs, terminates; the colour of the palpal organs is dark-reddish and 
yellowish-brown intermixed. The convex sides of the digital joints are directed towards 
each other. 
Much confusion in the synonyma of Epeira apoclisa has been occasioned by some of its 
numerous varieties having, without sufficient investigation, been described as distinct species. 
In attempting to elucidate this intricate subject, the difficulties attending endeavours to 
reconcile conflicting opinions in such cases, which are well known to naturalists, and are 
unusually great in this department of zoology, may be alleged as an excuse for any errors 
unwittingly fallen into. Perhaps the Epeira foliata and the Epeira nauseosa of M. Koch, 
‘Die Arachniden,’ B. xi, pp. 119, 120, might be added to the synonyma already given ; but 
as doubt may be entertained on this point, it has been deemed better to omit them. 
Epeira apoclisa frequents gorse, heath, and rank herbage growing near the margins of 
lakes, pools and brooks, or in other damp situations, among which it constructs a dome-shaped 
cell of white silk of a compact texture. In this cell, after distributing upon its exterior 
surface the withered leaves of plants and closing its entrance with a tissue of silk, the spider 
passes the winter in a state of torpidity. During the summer and autumn the female incloses 
in cells of a similar construction several subglobose cocoons of yellow silk of a loose texture, 
measuring, on an average, ^ths of an inch in diameter, each of which contains about 220 
spherical eggs of a pale-brown colour, agglutinated together in a lenticular mass. On the 
18th of July, 1846, both sexes of a small insect belonging to the family Ichneuntonidce, the 
female of which is apterous, came out of a cocoon of this spider, and in 1842 specimens of 
the same insect were obtained from a cocoon of Epeira umbratica. 
M. Walckenaer, in referring to an interesting fact recorded by Lister, has strangely 
misinterpreted the meaning of that author; he states that “ Lister a observe des larves 
d’Ichneumon dans les nids de cette espece” ( Epeira apoclisa)-. “ces larves se sont trans- 
formees sous ses yeux et ont pris leur vol dans Fair” (‘ Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt.,’ t. ii, 
p. 65). The source of error will be immediately perceived on perusing the following passage 
cited from the ‘ Tractatus de Araneis’ of the English naturalist, page 40 :—“ In nido autem 
altero divulso triplicem, ut supra dictum est, foetum observavi. Inter primum vero partum 
sex aderant parvse Chrysalides sive Thecae teretes, solidse, utraque extremitate retusae, sub- 
lividae, id sc. genus, e quibus Muscae tripiles, a Moufeto nostro sic dictae, antiquis vero 
Ichneumones vespse appellatae, excludi solent. Ex ipsis autem Araneolis natu majoribus, qui 
sc. horum vermiculorum voracitatem, dum in ovo, effugerant, quotquot a me aeri expositi, 
protinus fila ejaculando avolavere; non injucundo sane spectaculo !” 
The snares spun by Epeira apoclisa vary considerably in extent; upwards of 120,000 
viscid globules are distributed upon the elastic spiral line in a net of large dimensions, yet 
under favorable circumstances the time required for its completion seldom exceeds forty 
minutes. 
This species is not uncommon in Scotland and Ireland. 
