were employed except that the amounts of the components in the epoxy resin compositions were varied the components and properties of the compositions are summarized in table 3 epoxy resin m is a multifunctional epoxy resin available from nippon kayaku company under the trade name eppn 501 which has an epoxy equivalent of 160 170 epoxy resin n is an o cresol novolac epoxy resin with an epoxy equivalent of 190 205 available from sumitomo chemical company under the trade name escn 195xf from the results shown in table 3 it can be seen that a composition containing epoxy resin o or b has a lower water uptake and better fluidity compared with a conventional one from the results of the above examples it can be seen that the epoxy resin composition of the present invention has low water uptake a low coefficient of thermal expansion high fluidity and improved heat resistance therefore the epoxy resin composition of the present invention is particularly suitable for use as an encapsulating material for encapsulating semiconductors also it can be used as a molding material powder coating material printed circuit board material and an adhesive the foregoing description of the preferred embodiments of this invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description obvious modifications or variations.