EPEIRA. 
341 
Epeira acalypha. PI. XXV, fig. 246. 
Epeira acalypha, Walck., Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt., tom. ii, p. 50. 
— —- Walck., Ibid., tom. ii, p. 501. 
— — Blackw., Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., second series, vol. xx, 
p. 502. 
— genista, Habn, Die Arachn., Band i, p. 11, tab. 3, fig. 7. 
Zilla — Koch, Uebers. des Arachn. Syst., erstes Heft, p. 5. 
— decora, Koch, Ibid., erstes Heft, p. 5. 
— acalypha, Koch, Die Arachn., Band vi, p. 139, tab. 213, figs. 530, 531. 
Length of the female, ^ths of an inch; length of the cephalo-thorax, ^th, breadth, ^th ; 
breadth of the abdomen, ^th; length of an anterior leg, 1th; length of a leg of the third 
pair, s|ths. 
The legs are moderately long, provided with hairs and spines, and of a yellowish-brown 
colour tinged with green, a line on the upper and under sides of the thighs of the first and 
second pairs, the extremities of the joints, and a few scattered spots having a blackish hue; 
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 slightly curved, 
pectinated claw at their extremity. The cephalo-thorax is small, convex, glossy, compressed 
before, rounded on the sides, and has an indentation in the medial line; it is of a yellowish- 
brown colour tinged with green; the lateral margins are black, and a fine line of the same 
hue extends along the middle. The eyes are seated on black spots, and the four intermediate 
ones nearly form a square ; those of the anterior pair are placed on a small prominence, and 
those of the posterior pair are the largest of the eight; the eyes of each lateral pair are seated 
on a minute tubercle, and are near to each other, but not in contact. The falces are powerful, 
conical, vertical, armed with a few teeth on the inner surface, and of a yellowish-brown colour, 
being darkest at the extremity. The maxillse are strong, straight, and enlarged and rounded 
at the extremity; the lip is semicircular, but somewhat pointed at the apex; and the sternum 
is heart-shaped, with prominences on the sides, opposite to the legs. These parts are black, 
the extremities of the first two being yellowish-brown. The abdomen is oviform, sparingly 
clothed with short hairs, glossy, very convex above, and projects greatly over the base of the 
cephalo-thorax ; the upper part is of a greenish-yellow colour, freckled with yellowish-white; 
four black spots occur in the anterior region, two in the medial line and one on each side, and 
in the posterior region there are three rows of confluent black spots which extend to the 
spinners; each side is marked with four oblique, black lines, and the under part, which is 
black, has a line extending from each dark-brown branchial operculum to the spinners, and 
several spots at their base of a yellowish-white hue ; the sexual organs are prominent, and of 
a red-brown colour. 
M. Koch remarks that the male is much slenderer than the female, and has, in proportion 
to its size, somewhat longer legs. The black line extending along the middle of the cephalo- 
thorax is longer and more conspicuous, the abdomen is redder, particularly on the sides, and 
