356 
EPEIRIM. 
Length of the male, |th of an inch; length of the cephalo-thorax, T ' s th, breadth, T ' 5 th ; 
breadth of the abdomen, T ‘ B th; length of an anterior leg, f B ths; length of a leg of the third 
pair, gth. 
The legs are long, slender, provided with hairs and fine spines, and of a yellowish- 
brown colour; the superior surface of the femora of the first and second pairs has a 
brownish-black tint, and the third and fourth pairs are marked with obscure annuli of the 
same hue; each tarsus is terminated by three claws of the usual structure, and below them 
there are several smaller ones. The cephalo-thorax is convex, glossy, compressed before, 
rounded on the sides, and has an indentation in the medial line; it is of a yellowish-brown 
hue, the cephalic region and the lateral margins being the darkest. The four intermediate 
eyes form a square, and those of each lateral pair are placed obliquely on a tubercle and are 
almost in contact; the two posterior eyes of the square are the largest of the eight, and the 
anterior ones are seated on a prominence. The falces are conical, vertical, and armed with 
teeth on the inner surface; the maxillae are short, strong, straight, rounded at the extremity, 
and have a conical process on the outer side, immediately before the insertion of the palpi; 
the lip is semicircular, but somewhat pointed. These parts are of a dark-brown colour 
slightly tinged with red. The sternum, which is heart-shaped, has a yellowish-brown tint, 
with darker margins. The palpi are short and of a yellowish-brown hue; the radial 
joint is stronger than the cubital and has an obtuse protuberance on the outer side; the 
digital joint is somewhat oval, with a slender process at the base curved outwards; it is 
convex and hairy externally, concave within, comprising the palpal organs, which are very 
highly developed, very prominent, complicated in structure, with a yellowish-brown convexity 
on the outer side, and are of a very dark-brown colour slightly tinged with red. The convex 
sides of the digital joints are directed towards each other. The abdomen is oviform, thinly 
clothed with hairs, convex above, projecting over the base of the cephalo-thorax ; on the 
upper part there is a broad, leaf-like mark, which tapers to the spinners, and has dentated 
lateral margins bordered with white ; it is of a brownish-black colour freckled with white, 
and has a transverse, white bar, minutely spotted with black, near its anterior extremity ; the 
sides, which are whitish, are streaked and spotted with brownish-black, and the under part is 
of a brownish-black hue, with a curved, yellowish-white stripe on each side of the medial 
line; the colour of the branchial opercula is dark-brown. 
From the description of this species given by M. Koch, it appears that the female is 
larger and more distinctly marked than the male, that its legs are much shorter, the femora, 
which are white, having a black annulus near their extremity, and that the palpi are marked 
with brown-black annuli. 
In December, 1853, an adult male of this Epeira was received from Mr. R. H. 
Meade, which had been taken by Mr. F. Walker, at Piercefield, in the summer of the same 
year. 
M. Walckenaer has placed the Zilla ( Epeira ) albimacula of M. Koch among the 
synonyma of Epeira agalena (‘ Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt.,’ t. ii, p. 37) ; but the males of these 
species differ in the design formed by the distribution of their colours, in the armature of 
their anterior legs, and in the structure of their palpal organs. 
