32S 
EPBIRIDiE. 
Epeira sericata. PI. XXIII, fig. 238. 
Ep'eira sericata, Koch, Uebers des Arachn. Syst., erstes Heft, p. 2. 
— — Koch, Die Arachn., Band xi, p. 110, tab. 385, figs. 914, 915. 
— virgata, Hahn, Die Arachn., Band ii, p. 26, tab. 46, fig. 113. 
Length of the female, \ of an inch; length of the cephalo-thorax, |th, breadth, |th ; 
breadth of the abdomen, T 3 5 ths; length of an anterior leg, §ths ; length of a leg of the third 
pair, Jgths. 
The legs are long, robust, provided with hairs and spines, and of a brownish-yellow 
colour, with dark-brown annuli, those at the anterior extremity of the femora being the 
broadest; the first pair is the longest, then the second, and the third pair is the shortest; 
the tarsi are terminated by the customary number of claws of the usual structure. The 
palpi resemble the legs in colour, and have a curved, pectinated claw at their extremity. The 
cephalo-thorax is compressed before, rather broad in front, rounded on the sides, moderately 
convex, and has a large indentation in the medial line; it is of a dark-brown hue, and is 
clothed with hoary hairs, which are densest on the lateral margins and in the cephalic region, 
forming in the latter a conspicuous, whitish line that passes between the two intermediate 
pairs of eyes, and whose extremities extend and converge to the medial indentation, where 
they meet. The four intermediate eyes are seated on a prominence, and nearly form a square, 
the two anterior ones, which are rather wider apart than the two posterior ones, being the 
largest of the eight; the eyes of each lateral pair are placed obliquely on a small tubercle, 
but are not contiguous. The falces are powerful, conical, vertical, and armed with teeth on 
the inner surface ; the maxillae are straight, short, strong, and rounded at the extremity ; the 
lip is semicircular, but slightly pointed at the apex; and the sternum, which is heart-shaped, 
is sparingly clothed with hoary hairs, and has small prominences on the sides, opposite to the 
legs. These parts have a dark-brown colour, faintly tinged with red, and the extremities of 
the maxillae and lip have a yellowish-brown hue. The abdomen is oviform, thinly clothed 
with hairs, convex above, and projects over the base of the cephalo-thorax; the upper part 
is of a dark, yellowish-brown colour, freckled with black ; a large, leaf-like, brown-black 
mark, mottled with dark, yellowish-brown, whose lateral margins are sinuous, and finely 
bordered with yellowish-white, extends along the middle, diminishing in breadth to the 
spinners; the anterior part of this mark comprises a yellowish-brown triangle, which includes 
a brown-black one, both having their vertices directed forwards; the posterior part of the 
mark comprises a yellowish-brown cross, the longitudinal portion of which tapers towards the 
spinners, and includes a brown-black line, whose broadest part, near its anterior extremity, 
has a triangular form; the transverse part of the cross is somewhat curved, and its ex¬ 
tremities occasionally break the continuity of the leaf-like mark, whose posterior part is 
crossed by a few obscure, yellowish-brown bars; a broad, brown-black band, freckled with 
yellowish-brown, and strongly dentated at its superior margin, extends along each side; the 
under part has a brown-black hue, with a curved, yellowish line on each side; the sexual 
