DIMEROSOMATA.
85
Order. DIMEROSOM ATA. Leach.
EPEIRA (NEPHILA) MACULATA.
Plate 47.
Class. Arachnid a, Lamarck . Aptera p. Linnaeus .
Order. Dimerosomata, Leach.
Family. Araneidas, Leach.
Sub-Gen. Nephila, Leach Zool. Misc.
Ch. Sp. E. corpore elongato, cephalo-tliorace holosericeo argenteo, abdomine cylindrico fusco-rubro lineis punctisque albis ; pedibus longissimis atris. Long. Corp. If unc.
E. with, the body elongated, cephalo-thorax holosericeus and silvery, abdomen cy-lindric, red-brown with spots and lines of white, legs very long and black. Lengthof the body If inches.
Syn. Aranea maculata, Fabr. Ent. Syst. 2. p. 425.
This remarkable creature is peculiar to some parts of the Chinese empire. It isnot the largest of the genus known; yet it is of sufficient magnitude to excite terrorand disgust. To an European, who has seen only the indigenous spiders of his owncountry, a species five or six inches in length, and nearly the same in breadth, mustappear a frightful creature : Epeira Maculata sometimes exceeds that size : but it hasnot the forbidding aspect of most insects of the same genus. The legs are unusuallylong, and the body slender. In its general appearance it resembles some kinds ofthe Phalangia that are known in England by the vulgar name Harvest-men, beinggenerally seen about that time of the year.
It has been observed, that nature oftentimes adorns the most deformed and loath-some of her creatures in the richest display of colours ; and this is especially noticedin many sorts of snakes, toads, lizards, &c. Spiders seem also of this description:to a form the most hideous we frequently find united a brilliance of colours, andelegance of marking, that is scarcely excelled by any of the butterfly tribe,—the mostbeautiful of all lepidopterous insects. Our present subject is a striking proof of thelatter part of this observation. The three figures in our plate of Epeira Maculataexhibit a front and a profile view of the insect, together with the front of the headat the third figure. The head is furnished with two very strong black mandibles,each terminated in an extremely acute point. The fore part of the cephalo-thorax,which is wholly of a fine silky appearance, and the colour of silver, bending over themandibles in the form of an arch, or circular head-piece, gives it the resemblance of