over the country, and is probably a variety of the European _Epeira marmorea_. [Illustration: FIGS. 401, 401 _a_. Epeira thaddeus, enlarged four times.] $Epeira thaddeus.$--A small species resembling the young of _insularis_, but with less distinct markings on the back. Full-grown females are about quarter of an inch in length, with the abdomen large and round (fig. 401). The colors are orange and light yellow like _insularis_. The two front pairs of legs have the femur, patella, and tibia orange, darker toward the ends. The third and fourth legs have the femur and patella orange. The other joints are white, with dark rings at the ends. The tibia of the fourth pair has a wide dark ring at the end. The abdomen is white or light yellow on the upper side, and brown underneath, the edge of the dark color coming far enough up to be seen from above, around the sides and front (fig. 401). Under the middle of the abdomen is a yellow spot just behind the epigynum (fig. 401 _a_). In some individuals there is a trace of markings on the hinder part of the abdomen, and the under side is sometimes light, so that there is a dark ring around the middle of the abdomen. This spider makes a tent near the web and lives in it like _insularis_. [Illustration: FIG. 402. Epeira trifolium in its nest in a plant of golden-rod. Natural size.] [Illustration: FIGS. 403, 404. Epeira trifolium, enlarged twice.--403, female. 404, male.] $Epeira trifolium.$--This is one of the largest species of the family, measuring from half to three-quarters of an inch long, with a large round abdomen, usually of a purplish brown color, and legs strongly marked with black rings (fig. 403). The cephalothorax is white, with three wide black stripes. The legs are white, with a black ring at the end of each joint and in the middle of the fourth femur. The back of the abdomen varies in color from dark purplish brown to light gray or white, or sometimes light yellow, and the same individual will change from light color to dark. The usual markings are four white spots and a middle row of smaller spots, with several oblique rows still smaller. All trace of the usual middle stripe is wanting except in very young individuals. The under side of the abdomen is dark brown, and the usual semicircular yellow marks are absent except in the young. The males (fig. 404) are not more than half as long as the females and slender and light colored. The markings are like those of the female, but less distinct. The tibiæ of the second legs are not thickened or modified in shape as they are in the male _insularis_. _Trifolium_ makes a large web in bushes, but seldom stands in it. It has near by a tent above the web (fig. 402) made of leaves, drawn together and lined with silk, connected with the center of the web by a strong thread, and it usually remains in this tent with one foot on the thread, so that it feels when anything is caught. The spiders mature in September, when the males may sometimes be