The round web of this spider is not large, generally three or four inches in diameter, but the irregular part above and partly covering it may be much larger, sometimes as much as six inches across, where the shape of the surrounding plants allows it [(fig. 409)]. One segment at the upper part of the round web is partly open, as in globosa (p. [173]) and Zilla (p. [185]), and here a strong thread passes to the nest, which is often covered by a large spreading tent. In the last of the summer several small, flat, brown cocoons are strung together in the irregular web above the tent [(fig. 410)], which is then smaller and less regularly made.

Epeira gibberosa.—A small and light-colored species living among grass and in bushes in open fields. The adult female is from a sixth to a quarter of an inch long, and the male smaller. The cephalothorax and legs are light greenish yellow, and the abdomen gray, or light yellow covered with lighter spots and black and yellow markings [(fig. 411)]. The abdomen is marked with two parallel lines on the hinder half and three smaller black spots in front, the latter often absent. The parallel lines are sometimes broken up into rows of spots, and these may form part of several transverse black and yellow marks. The cephalothorax has a narrow black line in the middle from the dorsal groove nearly to the eyes. The feet are black toward the claws, and the spines of the legs are long and black. The first and second femora have a longitudinal black line on the under side. The abdomen is oval, half longer than wide. The cephalothorax is high in the middle and slopes forward toward the eyes almost as steeply as backward [(fig. 412)]. The web [(fig. 413)] is horizontal or inclined, with a round well-defined central portion, in the middle of which is sometimes a round opaque screen that nearly covers the spider. In the finished web there is usually no trace of the temporary spiral, but sometimes, as in the figure, a little of it is left, showing how it starts abruptly from the closer spirals that form the center of the web. The outer spirals are very fine and close together and the number of rays unusually large, sometimes as many as sixty.