EPEIRA. 
385 
Length of the female, #hs of an inch ; length of the cephalo-thorax, Ath, breadth, ^th ; 
breadth of the abdomen, gth ; length of an anterior leg, 1th; length of a leg of the third 
pair, gth. 
The four intermediate eyes are placed on a slight prominence and form a square, the two 
posterior ones being the largest of the eight, and the eyes of each lateral pair are seated 
obliquely on a tubercle, hut are not contiguous. The cephalo-thorax is convex, glossy, com¬ 
pressed before, rounded on the sides, depressed behind, clothed with whitish hairs on the 
anterior part, and has an indentation in the medial line; the falces are powerful, conical, 
vertical, and armed with teeth on the inner surface; the maxillae are short, strong, straight, 
and rounded at the extremity; the lip is semicircular, hut somewhat pointed ; and the sternum 
is heart-shaped, with small eminences on the sides, opposite to the legs. These parts are of 
a red-brown colour; the falces, sternum, and base of the lip are much the darkest, and the 
cephalic region, which is the palest, has a faint tinge of yellow. The legs are provided with 
hairs and erect spines, and their colour is yellowish-brown, with dark-brown annuli; each 
tarsus is terminated by three claws of the usual structure, and below them there are several 
smaller ones. The palpi resemble the legs in colour, and have a curved, pectinated claw at 
their extremity. The abdomen is large, of a somewhat subglohose form, and projects greatly 
over the base of the cephalo-thorax ; it is thinly clothed with hairs, and of a pale red-brown 
colour above, faintly mottled with dull, yellowish-white spots, the anterior extremity being 
the darkest; on the upper part there is a leaf-shaped mark, which is broad before and tapers 
to the spinners; it is obscurely defined by sinuous lateral margins of a dark-brown hue, and is 
bordered by white spots, which converge abruptly in front, presenting the appearance of a 
short pedicle to the leaf-shaped mark ; above the spinners some transverse, dark-brown bars 
occur, and the sides are marked with a few oblique, red-brown streaks; the under part, 
including the branchial opercula and spinners, is of a dark red-brown colour, a broad band of 
a dull-yellow hue, mingled with pale reddish-brown, extending along each side of the medial 
line; the sexual organs have a small, black prominence on each side, and an oval, mem¬ 
braneous process, directed obliquely backwards, is connected with their anterior margin. 
The male bears a close resemblance to the female, but may be distinguished from her by 
its smaller size, darker colour, and by its first pair of legs being armed with long spines on 
their anterior surface. The cubital and radial joints of its palpi are short; the former has 
two long, curved bristles at its extremity, in front, and the latter, which is the broader, has 
two fine ones on its outer side, which is prominent; the digital joint is somewhat oval, with a 
process at its base curved outwards ; it is convex and hairy externally, concave within, com¬ 
prising the palpal organs, which are very highly developed and complicated in structure, 
with a yellowish-brown bilobed process on the under side; one of these lobes is directed 
outwards, and is terminated by three pointed spines of unequal length; the other lobe is 
contiguous to the inferior margin of the joint, and is terminated by a prominent, slightly 
curved, pointed spine ; these organs have a very dark-brown hue. The convex sides of the 
digital joints are directed towards each other. 
In the month of June this Epeira may be found in a state of maturity on trees and 
bushes in woods about Oakland. 
