M. Walckenaer has disposed o f Epeira celata as a synonym of Epeira fm o a (‘ Hist. Nat.
des Insect. Apt.,’ t. iv, p. 4 7 1 ) but it differs materially from that species in size, structure,
colour, and economy, and has a much closer affinity with Epeira mtriada. It inhabits damp
caverns and hollow banks in Denbighshire and Caernarvonshire, to the sides of which the
female, in the month of May, attaches a subglobose cocoon o f whitish silk of a loose texture,
measuring about half an inch in diameter; in it she deposits between 200 and 300 spherical
eggs of a yellow colour, agglutinated together in a lenticular form.
Epeiba inclinata. PI. XXVI, fig. 2 5 5 . ....
Epeira inclinata, Walck., Hist. Nat. des Insect. Apt., tom. if, p. 82.
-.-4-^' — Sund., Yet. Acad. Handl., 1832, p. 250.
— Blackw., Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., second series, vol x,
p. 187.
Zilla reticulata, Koch, Die Arachn., Band vi, p. 142, tab. 214, figs. 532,. 533.
Titulus 1, Lister, Hist. Animal. Angl. De Aran., p. 24, tab. 1, fig. 1.
Length of the female, ^ths of an inch; length of the cephalo-thorax, {th, breadth, ^th ;
breadth of the abdomen, Jth; length of. an anterior leg, Jtths; length of a leg of the third
pair, |th.
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 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 o f a pale
yellowish-brown colour, with black lateral margins, a black band extending along the middle,
which is bifid before, and a short streak of the same hue directed backwards from each
lateral pair o f eyes. 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
yellowish-brown hue, with a blackish spot on the frontal convexity. The maxilke are strong,
straight, enlarged and rounded at the extremity, and have a brownish-black tint, being paler
towards the inner surface. The lip is nearly semicircular; and the sternum is heart-shaped,
with prominences on the sides, opposite to the legs. These parts are o f a brownish-black
colour, the latter being rather paler in the medial line. The legs are long, provided with
hairs, and erect, black spines, and of a yellow-brown hue, with brownish-black spots and dark
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, sparingly clothed with short hairs
convex above, and projects over the base of the cephalo-thorax; on the upper part there’
is a large, leaf-like mark, having black, sinuous margins, whose anterior part, which is the
broadest, comprises two large, yellowish-white marks; the form of the anterior one is
irregular, that o f the posterior one triangular, and both are bisected by a fine, ramified, brown
lin e ; between the base of the triangular mark and the spinners there are transverse black,
brown, and yellowish-white bars, and on each side of the leaf-shaped mark there is a broad,
dentated band o f a yellowish-white or red-brown colour; the sides have a brownish-black hue
mottled with yellow, and the under part, which is of a yellowish colour reticulated with
brown, has a broad, brownish-black band, bounded on each side by a yellow line, extending
along the middle; two yellow spots occur on each side of the spinners, and the branchial
opercula have a yellowish-brown tint, their inner margin being somewhat paler. This
species varies greatly in colour, some individuals being much darker than others.
The male is smaller and darker coloured than the female, and its legs, which are without
annuli, have a red-brown tint. The cubital and radial joints of its palpi are short, the latter,
which is the stronger, having a minute apophysis at its extremity, in front; the digital joint
consists of three parts; one, which is straight and glossy, projects in front; another, united
to the base of the former on the outer side, is slender and hairy; and the third, which is
much the largest, is somewhat oval, greatly contracted at its base, convex and hairy
externally, and Concave within; all are connected with the palpal organs, which are
moderately developed, not very complicated in structure, and of a red-brown colour. The
convex sides of the oval parts of the digital joints are directed towards each other.
Epeira inclinata abounds in many parts of Great Britain and Ireland, but seems to
prefer districts which are well wooded. It spins in the intervals between the branches of
trees and shrubs a net similar in design to that constructed by Epeira antriada, and, like that
species, drops quickly, on being disturbed, from its station in the circular aperture at the
centre of its snare, drawing from the spinners in its descent a line which enables it speedily
to regain its former position.
In autumn the female attaches to the under side o f stones, fragments of rock, and lichens
growing on old trees, several globular cocoons of whitish silk of a loose texture, measuring,
on an average, three eighths of an inch in diameter; each contains from 80 to 140 spherical
eggs of a pale-yellow colour, cemented together in a globular mass.
An adult female of this species* captured in August, 1842, was entirely destitute of the
left intermediate eye of the posterior row, and the right intermediate eye of the same row had
not half o f the usual size; &nd in another adult female, received from the Rev. Hamlet
Clark, in the autumn of the same year, the right intermediate eye of the posterior row had
not one eighth of the natural size, being merely rudimentary.
Epeira albimacula. PI. XXVI,* fig. 25&
Epeira albimacula, Blaekw.,- Ännal's and Mag. of Nät. Hist., second series, vol. xiv,
p. 33.
Zilla — Koch, Uebers. des Arachn. Syst., erstes Heft, p. 5.
— — Koch, Die Arachn., Band vi, p. 144, tab. 215, figs. 534, 535..