Epeira nordmanni.—This is a little smaller and a little longer legged than cinerea and angulata. The abdomen is longer than in those species and has two similar humps in front [(fig. 387)]. The female is not more than half an inch long. The colors are white and gray or black. The cephalothorax is light gray, darkest at the sides, but without stripes. The legs have a dark ring at the ends and a lighter one in the middle of each joint. The abdomen has a distinct middle stripe on the hinder half. In front there is an indistinct dark area extending to the top of the humps and, in the middle, inclosing a bright, long, white spot, with a round spot on each side sometimes united with it. The sternum is dark brown, without any stripe. The under side of the abdomen has a middle dark area in which are four yellow spots, two just behind the respiratory openings and two farther back, halfway to the spinnerets.

Epeira angulata and silvatica.—These spiders, which are perhaps varieties of the same species, live usually among large trees and grow to over half an inch in length. The abdomen has two slight humps on the front. The colors are dark, like the bark of trees. The cephalothorax is dark brown, with traces of darker lines in the middle and at its sides. The legs are brown, with darker rings at the ends of the joints and less distinct rings in the middle. The abdomen has a bright yellow spot in front. The middle stripe is darker brown than the rest and has a scalloped edge marked by a dark and light line, which may be entire or broken into lines of spots. The under side of the abdomen is black or brown, with sometimes several yellow spots. The sternum is uniform brown in silvatica and has a yellow middle stripe in angulata. The males are colored like the females and are about half as large, with the legs longer, especially the front pairs. The tibia of the second legs is twice as thick as that of the first pair, a little bent, with the spines stouter and more numerous than in the female. In the male of the angulata variety the tibia of the second pair is nearly as long as that of the first, but in silvatica it is distinctly shorter. On the under side of the coxæ of the second legs is a conical spine, which is longest in the angulata variety. The epigynum is small for so large a spider and has a long slender finger in the middle. These spiders are found singly or in small numbers, usually in the woods, sometimes in webs hung between trees high above the ground.

Epeira cinerea.—This large spider is common in the northern part of New England, from Maine to New York, where it lives in great numbers about barns and houses. It grows to three-quarters of an inch in length, with the abdomen proportionally larger than angulata and with two small humps on the front part [(fig. 391)]. The color is dirty white, with grayish markings and long white hairs scattered all over the body. The cephalothorax is a little darkened at the sides, but has no distinct stripes. The legs have gray rings at the ends and middle of each joint, which are hardly visible in some individuals and almost black in others. The markings are like those of angulata, but paler and often indistinct. The sternum is brown, and the under side of the abdomen has a central dark stripe bordered by curved yellow markings. The epigynum is small, as in angulata, but the finger is flattened and turned up at the end. The male is colored like the female, with the hairs on the legs coarser and darker. The tibia of the second legs of the male is not thickened or modified as it is in angulata. The webs resemble those of E. sclopetaria, and the spider has similar habits, standing in the web at night and usually leaving it in the daytime; and it has no special thread from the web to the nest.

Epeira corticaria.—This is a small species about quarter of an inch in length, with the abdomen angular in front, where it is as wide as long [(fig. 392)]. The colors are generally lighter and brighter than in angulata or silvatica. The cephalothorax has the cephalic part brown and the sides pale. The legs are marked with broken brown rings at the ends and middle of each joint. The abdomen is brown of various shades, with light markings on the front part that are often bright red or yellow. There is a narrow light line across the abdomen from the middle to each hump and around the outer side of it. In front of these light lines the abdomen is generally darker, except a light spot, sometimes cross shaped, in the middle. The hinder half of the abdomen has sometimes an indistinct middle stripe. The under side of the abdomen has the usual middle dark area, with a curved yellow mark each side of it. The finger of the epigynum is usually absent, as if broken off.