EPEIRA. 
345 
Epeira lutea. PI. XXV, fig. 249. 
Epeira lutea, Koch, Uebers. des Arachn. Syst., erstes Heft, p. 3. 
— — Koch, Die Arachn., Band v, p. 62, tab. 161, fig. 378. 
— — Koch, Ibid., Band xi, p. 123, tab. 388, figs. 926, 927. 
Length of the female, 1th of an inch ; length of the cephalo-thorax, - H th, breadth, T ' 0 th; 
breadth of the abdomen, 1th; length of an anterior leg, §ths; length of a leg of the third 
pair, 1th. 
The cephalo-thorax is compressed before, rounded on the sides, convex, particularly in 
the cephalic region, glossy, sparingly supplied with whitish hairs, and has a large indentation 
in the medial line; it is of a pale, yellow-red colour, with a brownish-red line extending from 
the posterior, intermediate pair of eyes to the medial indentation, an obscure line of the same 
hue passes obliquely backwards from each lateral pair of eyes, and joins the former line near 
its posterior extremity, and a band of a somewhat deeper hue extends along each side, imme¬ 
diately above the fine, dark-brown, lateral margins. The eyes are disposed on the anterioi 
part of the cephalo-thorax in two transverse rows; the four intermediate ones are seated on 
a prominence, and nearly form a square, the two posterior ones, which are rather nearer to 
each other than the anterior ones, being the largest of the eight; the eyes of each lateral pair 
are placed obliquely on a tubercle, but are not in contact. The falces are powerful, conical, 
vertical, and armed with teeth on the inner surface; the maxillae are short, stiaight, 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 of a pale, yellow-red colour; the sternum, which is rather the darkest, has 
red-brown spots on its lateral prominences and posterior point, and the extremities of the 
maxillae and lip have a pale, dull-yellowish hue. The legs are robust, provided with hairs 
and spines, and have a pale, yellow-red hue, with brown-red annuli; the first pair is the 
longest, then the second, and the third pair is the shortest; the tarsi are terminated by claws 
of the usual number and structure. The palpi resemble the legs in colour, and have a curved, 
pectinated claw at their extremity. The abdomen is oviform, thinly clothed with hairs, convex 
above, and projects greatly over the base of the cephalo-thorax; the colour of the upper part 
is pale-yellow, finely reticulated with brownish-red; a leaf-like space, bounded laterally by a 
slightly sinuous, red-brown line, finely bordered with pale-yellow externally, tapers from the 
anterior part to the spinners; this space comprises some small, pale-yellow spots; two 
depressed, dark-brown spots on each side of the medial line, in its broad, anterior part, are 
disposed in pairs, those of the posterior pair being the widest apart, and several obscure, pale- 
yellow, transverse bars, bordered with red-brown, occur on its posterior half; the superior 
region of the sides is somewhat darker than the upper part, and is marked with oblique, red- 
brown streaks; and the inferior region and under part have a reddish-brown hue, the latter 
having a curved, pale-yellow line on each side; the sexual organs are highly developed, pro¬ 
minent, with a long, depressed, membraneous process connected with their anterior margin; 
