margins, and a band of the same hue extending along the middle, which increases in breadth
as it approaches the eyes, where it becomes slightly bifid. The four intermediate eyes
nearly form a square; the two anterior ones are seated on a slight prominence, and those of
each lateral pair are placed obliquely on a tubercle and are almost in contact. The falces
are powerful, conical, vertical, and armed with teeth on the inner surface; the maxillae are
straight, robust, convex underneath, and enlarged at the extremity, which is rounded; and
the lip is semicircular. These parts have a dark red-brown hue, the extremities of the
maxillae and lip being much the palest. The sternum is heart-shaped, with prominences on
the margins, opposite to the legs and lip, and has a brownish-black tint. The abdomen is
oviform, glossy, convex above, and projects over the base of the cephalo-thorax; the upper
part is of a yellowish or reddish-brown hue, with a large, oval, brownish-black spot in the
anterior region, on each side of the medial line; these spots are almost united in front by a
narrow band of the same tint, which proceeds from each of them; between the oval spots and
the spinners there is a series of curved, transverse, brownish-black bars, which diminish in
length as they approach the anus ; the sides are of a brownish-black colour, freckled with
dull-yellow, and have a slightly curved band of a yellowish hue extending from the anterior
part to the spinners, on each side of which organs there are one or two yellow spots ; the
under part is of a dark red-brown or brownish-black hue, bordered on each side by an obscure,
yellowish band; and the colour of the branchial opercula is pale-yellow.
The male is smaller than the female, but it resembles her in the design formed by the
distribution of its colours. The cubital and radial joints of its palpi are short; the latter is
rather the larger and projects a small, pointed apophysis from its extremity, in front; the
digital joint is of an irregular, complex form, having a strong, prominent, corneous process in
front, which has several minute protuberances on its under side, and a smaller, membraneous
process on the outer side, whose extremity is enlarged, somewhat rounded* and supplied
with long hairs; the principal part of the joint is of a rhomboidal figure, gibbous at the base,
convex, hairy, and provided with some erect spines externally, concave within, comprising
the palpal organs, which are highly developed, complicated in structure, and have at their
extremity a strong, corneous, pointed process, a long and nearly straight spine, and, exterior
to both, a large, corneous process which terminates in a fine, transparent membrane; their
colour is reddish-brown, the corneous parts being much the darkest. The convex sides of
the digital joints are directed towards each other.
The young, when they quit the cocoon, have a very dark hue, with the exception of the
anterior and lateral regions of the upper part of the abdomen, which are marked with white,
and two pale-yellow spots on its under part.
Caves, cellars, overhanging banks and other obscure places constitute the principal
haunts of Epeira fusoa in North Wales. In autumn the female fabricates a large oviform
cocoon of white silk of so delicate a texture that the eggs, connected together by silken lines
in a globular mass a quarter of an inch in diameter, may be seen distinctly within it. Its
transverse axis measures about eleven tenths, and its conjugate axis eight tenths of an inch,
and it is attached by numerous lines, generally forming a short pedicle at one extremity, to
the walls or roofs of the places it inhabits. The eggs, which are yellow and spherical, are
between 400 and 500 in number.
In transferring this species and Epeira antriada, included in the genus Meta Uebers.
des Arachn. Syst.,’ erstes Heft, p. 6), from the Epeiridce to the Theridiida, 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.
E peira antriada. PI. XXVI, fig. 253.
jEpeira 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, ^ths of an inch; length o f the cephalo-thorax, |th, breadth, |th;
breadth of the abdomen, |th ; length of an anterior leg, |th s ; 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 lin e ; 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 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 curved, pectinated claw at their extremity.
The abdomen is oviform, thinly clothed with short hairs, convex above, and projects over
the base o f 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