366 
EPBIRIDiE. 
Rev. Hamlet Clark, who states that it was taken in Leicestershire; in 1858 immature speci¬ 
mens of both sexes were captured by the Rev. O. P. Cambridge in the New Forest; and in 
May, 1860, Mr. Cambridge found both sexes in a state of maturity, at Lyndhurst. 
The male is smaller and darker coloured than the female, and the anterior half of the 
femora of the first and second pairs of legs has a brownish-black hue, but the design formed 
by the distribution of their colours is similar in both sexes. The cubital and radial joints of its 
palpi are short, the former, which is the stronger, projecting two long bristles, curved for¬ 
wards, from its extremity, in front; the digital joint, which is oval, has a glossy process at its 
base, curved outwards, and is of a dark-brown hue ; it is convex and hairy externally, concave . 
within, comprising the palpal organs, which are very highly developed, protuberant, complex 
in structure, with two strong, curved processes, between which there is some brownish-yellow 
membrane, and a fine, prominent, slightly curved spine near their middle; their colour is 
brownish-black, with yellowish-brown intermixed. The convex sides of the digital joints are 
directed towards each other. 
Epeira Herii. PI. XXVII, fig. 264. 
Ep'eira Herii, Hahn, Die Arachn., Band i, p. 8, tab. 2, fig. 5. 
— — Walck., Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt., t. ii, p. 89. 
Singa — Koch, Uebers. des Arachn. Syst., erstes Heft., p. 6. 
Length of the female, 2§ lines, Hahn. 
The ceplialo-thorax is compressed before, rounded on the sides, glossy and convex, par¬ 
ticularly in the cephalic region ; the falces are strong, conical, and vertical; the maxillae are 
short, straight, and rounded at the extremity; the lip is semicircular, but somewhat pointed 
at the apex ; and the legs and palpi are provided with hairs and slender spines. These parts 
are of a red-brown colour, the legs, palpi, and falces being much the palest, and the maxillae 
and lip the darkest. The sternum is heart-shaped, with small prominences on the sides, 
opposite to the legs, and has a brownish-black hue. The eyes are seated on black spots on 
the anterior part of the cephalo-thorax; the four intermediate eyes form a square; the two 
anterior ones are placed on a tubercle, and the posterior ones are the largest of the eight; the 
eyes of each lateral pair are seated on a small tubercle, and are very near to each other, but 
not in contact. The abdomen is subcylindrical, glossy, thinly clothed with short hairs, 
slightly convex above, and projects over the base of the cephalo-thorax; it is of a brownish- 
black colour, with a pale-yellow or yellowish-white band in the medial line, and another of the 
same hue extending along the upper part of each side; a broad, longitudinal, dark-brown 
band, which extends to the spinners, and is bounded on each side by a pale-yellowish line, 
occupies the middle of the under part. 
This spider varies considerably in colour according to age, young individuals being of a 
red-brown hue where that of adults is brownish-black; but the design formed by the distri¬ 
bution of their colours is similar in both sexes. 
