Epeira placida.—This is a small spider, about a fifth of an inch long, with the longest legs about a quarter of an inch. The cephalothorax is high in the middle where it rests against the abdomen very much as it is in gibberosa [(fig. 412)]. The abdomen is oval, and widest behind. The legs are comparatively short and tapering, and the femora thick. The cephalothorax is brownish yellow, with three brown stripes. The legs are the same color, a little darker at the ends of the joints. The abdomen has a middle brown stripe, narrow in front and widening to the middle, from which it extends to the spinnerets, keeping about the same width, with a row of black spots on the edge at each side and a pair of white spots in the middle [(fig. 414)]. The sides of the abdomen are white or yellow, and underneath it is brown, with two white stripes in the middle and four white spots around the spinnerets. The male is marked like the female and has no peculiar modifications of the legs. This spider matures early, sometimes before the first of June in Massachusetts, and half-grown young are found in the autumn. The web is like that of gibberosa, with a large, round, and close inner spiral from which, in the unfinished web, the temporary spiral starts abruptly. The web is made in low bushes and may be vertical or inclined.

Epeira scutulata.—A light yellow spider, a sixth to a fifth of an inch long, with the abdomen angular behind and at the sides and as wide as long [(fig. 415)]. The cephalothorax is half as wide in front as it is behind, and the lateral eyes are as far from the middle eyes as they are from each other. The front legs are a fourth longer than the second. The general color is light yellow, the legs darker at the ends of the joints, with long black spines. The head has a few brown or red marks behind the eyes and back to the dorsal groove, but these are often entirely absent. The abdomen is lighter across the front between the two corners, and there is sometimes a distinct white transverse stripe. In front of each corner is a black spot, and there is generally a row of small black spots around the front of the abdomen, and two rows behind converging toward the spinnerets. In the hinder rows of spots the middle pair are generally longest, and sometimes these are the only pair present. The under side has no distinct markings. The epigynum is dark at the sides, and the finger is short and flat at the end and turned a little outward. The male has the legs longer, and the cephalothorax wider behind. The abdomen is not much larger than the cephalothorax and less angular than in the female. The colors are the same as in the female, some individuals being light and some dark.

Epeira parvula.—A common spider all over the country, with the abdomen wide in front and bluntly pointed behind, gray and brown colors and a great variety of markings. The length is quarter to three-eighths of an inch, with the abdomen two-thirds as long and as wide across the front. The abdomen is as high behind as it is in front, and the pointed end is sometimes turned a little upward, as it is in conica. The front of the head is narrow, not more than half as wide as the back of the thorax. The front legs are half longer than the body. The cephalothorax is gray, darker at the sides, and sometimes with a few black spots. The legs are irregularly marked with rings and spots, and the femora are dark toward the end. The abdomen is commonly gray, with a tapering scalloped middle stripe and a distinct dark middle spot and two large light spots at the front end [(fig. 416)]. Sometimes there is a middle narrow dark stripe the whole length of the abdomen [(fig. 418)], and sometimes all the middle is white or light yellow. The males have the head a little narrower and more pointed, the legs longer, and the second tibia slightly thickened, but not curved. The webs are in low bushes.