EPEIRA. 
351 
des Arachn. Syst.,’ erstes Heft, p. 6), from the Epeirida to the Tlieridiidce, and thus widely 
separating them from a species so closely allied as Epeira inclinata , which is suffered to 
remain in the former family, M. Koch appears to have lost sight of those principles of 
affinity and analogy which afford the only safe guide in the classification of natural 
objects. 
Epeira antriada. PI. XXVI, fig. 253. 
Epeira antriada, Walck., Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt., tom. ii, p. 83. 
— —• Blackw., Linn. Trans., vol. xix, p. 128. 
— — Blackw., Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., second series, vol. x, 
p. 186. 
Meta muraria, Koch, Die Arachn., Band viii, p. 125, tab. 288, figs. 693, 694. 
Length of the female, T |ths of an inch; length of the cephalo-thorax, jth, breadth, ffh; 
breadth of the abdomen, jth ; length of an anterior leg, |ths; length of a leg of the third 
pair, |ths. 
The cephalo-thorax is convex, glossy, compressed before, truncated in front, rounded on 
the sides, and has a large indentation in the medial line ; it is of a pale yellowish-brown 
colour, with black lateral margins, a few obscure, transverse, black streaks on the sides, and 
a band of the same hue extending along the middle, which increases in breadth as it 
approaches the eyes, where it comprises several yellowish-brown spots. The four intermediate 
eyes nearly form a square; the two anterior ones are seated on a small prominence, and 
those of each lateral pair are placed obliquely on a tubercle and are almost in contact. The 
falces are powerful, conical, convex near the base, in front, somewhat inclined towards the 
sternum, armed with teeth on the inner surface, and of a reddish-brown hue, with a blackish 
spot on the frontal convexity. The maxillae are robust, straight, and enlarged and rounded 
at the extremity; and the lip is nearly semicircular. These parts are of a dark reddish-brown 
colour, the inner surface of the maxillae being the palest. The sternum is heart-shaped, with 
prominences on the sides opposite to the legs, and has a brownish-black tint. The legs are 
long, provided with hairs and erect, black spines, and are of a light reddish-brown colour, 
the thighs being the palest, with black spots and brownish-black annuli; each tarsus is ter¬ 
minated 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 oviform, thinly clothed with short hairs, convex above, and projects over 
the base of the cephalo-thorax ; on the upper part there is a large, brown, leaf-like mark, 
with blackish, sinuous margins, whose anterior part, which is the broadest, is mottled with 
black and yellowish-white, and an obscure, dark-brown, dentated band extends along the 
middle; four minute indentations, marked by small, yellowish-white spots, describe a 
quadrangle in the anterior region of the leaf-like mark, and the sides are mottled and streaked 
with black, brown, and yellow; on the under part there is a broad, longitudinal, black band, 
46 
