The webs of these spiders have usually from twelve to twenty rays, and the inner spiral is small and carelessly finished (figs. 379, 380). The webs are made usually at nightfall, very young individuals beginning to spin soon after sunset, and larger ones beginning later, those that are full grown often waiting until dark, but some of them will occasionally spin their webs at any time of day. They stand in the web during the night, but seldom during the daytime, going then to their usual nests or hiding places, sometimes, especially with _Epeira strix_, a long distance from the web. As a rule, they have no special thread by which to enter or leave the web, but use any one of the rays which may be convenient, always injuring the web more or less; but occasionally, if _Epeira sclopetaria_ has a nest in a convenient situation, he will make the web near it and have a thread direct from the nest to the center of the web, as is the usual habit in some other species. The eggs of _sclopetaria_ are laid in the early summer in large, round, white cocoons (fig. 386), fastened in sheltered places on the walls of houses and covered with a loose mass of silk threads. [Illustration: FIG. 386. Egg cocoon of Epeira sclopetaria under the edge of a clapboard. Natural size.] $The Angulate Epeiras.$--_E. angulata_ (fig. 389), _silvatica_ (fig. 390), _nordmanni_ (fig. 387), _cinerea_ (fig. 391), and _corticaria_ (fig. 392) all have the humps on the front of the abdomen, and in young spiders this is the widest part. _Angulata_, _silvatica_, and _cinerea_ grow to a large size. _Cinerea_ is light colored and lives in great numbers about houses and barns in northern New England. _Angulata_ and _silvatica_ are found among trees and are dark colored like bark. _Angulata_ has a yellow stripe on the sternum and yellow spots under the abdomen between the spinnerets and epigynum. _Silvatica_ has the sternum and under side of the abdomen brown, without any distinct markings. The male _angulata_ has the thickened tibia of the second leg nearly as long as the tibia of the first leg. The male _silvatica_ has the second tibia less thickened and a fourth shorter than the first tibia. The male _angulata_ has a pair of long spines under the coxæ of the second legs, but in _silvatica_ these spines are so small as to be hardly visible. _E. nordmanni_ is a smaller species, about as large as _sclopetaria_ and _strix_, with light gray colors and generally distinct marking both above and below. _E. corticaria_ is not more than half as large as _silvatica_ and might be mistaken for the young of that species, but the colors are lighter and the rings on the legs narrower and more numerous. The epigynum of _corticaria_ is nearly as large as that of _silvatica_, and the middle appendage is often wanting as if broken off. [Illustration: FIGS. 387, 388. Epeira nordmanni.--Upper and under markings of female enlarged twice.]