The letter from Günther has not been found, but he had asked CD about spider specimens collected on the Beagle voyage; see letters to Albert Günther, 28 January [1877] and 25 February [1877]. For CD’s specimen lists including these items, see R. D. Keynes ed. 2000, pp. 321, 38 and 328, and 367. Epira is a misspelling of Epeira, a synonym of Araneus, a genus of orbweaver spiders. In the nineteenth century, many spiders were classified in Epeira that are now in different genera and families. The spider ‘allied to Epira’ was later identified as Leucauge venusta, the orchard orbweaver. Adam White formally described it in 1841 as Linyphia (Leucauge) argyrobapta and included this description from CD’s notes: ‘Web very regular, nearly horizontal, with concentric circles; beneath, but sometimes above, the concentric web, there is an irregular or thin tissue of network; the animal rests in the centre, on the inferior surface: abdomen brilliant; the red colour like a ruby with a bright light behind’ (White 1841, p. 474).