106 



The Canadian Field-Naturalist 



[Vol. XXXIV. 



neglect the lake, as some birds might do, but may ensure the preservation at one and the same time 



be seen searching for food even in parts of it of a unique and splendid bit of wild life and of 



remote from their nesting-islands. There seems, a tireless band of scavengers and guardians of the 



therefore, to be every reason for taking action to health of a large town. 



THE SPIDERS OF CANADA. 



By J. H. Emerton. 



The writer recently published, in the Transac- 

 ions of the Canadian Institute, Toronto, a catalogue 

 of the known spiders of Canada, numbering 342 

 species. This seems small when compared with 

 the numbers in countries where the fauna is better 

 known, but spiders are hard to find and this number 

 represents very well the larger and more common 

 species. Many more will do no doubt be found, 

 as more persons take up the study of these animals. 



In 1846, John Blackwall, then the leading stu- 

 dent of spiders in England, published in the An- 

 nals and Magazine of Natural History of London 

 a "Notice of Spiders captured by Prof. Potter in 

 Canada" a few years before in the neighborhood 

 of Toronto. In 1871, he published in the same 

 journal a "Notice of Spiders captured by Miss 

 Hunter in Montreal." In 1875, T. Thorell pub- 

 lished in the Proceedings of the Boston Society of 

 Natural Historv "Descriptions of Spiders collected 

 by A. S. Packard in Labrador." In 1876, the 

 writer spent a short time in Montreal and collected 

 a few spiders, which were described in a paper on 

 New England Therididae, published by the Con- 

 necticut Academy in 1882. Between 1880 and 

 1890, J. B. Tyrrell collected spiders at Ottawa, in 

 the Rocky Mountains and other parts of Canada, 

 and at the same time T. E. Bean, in connection 

 with his work on Lepidoptera, collected spiders 

 around Laggan in the Rocky Mountains. 



Since 1900, a considerable number of collectors 

 have interested themselves in Canadian spiders. In 

 1905, the writer visited western Canada collecting 

 at Vancouver, Lake Louise, Banff and Medicine 

 Hat. The same year G. W. Peckham collect:d 

 through the same region, especially at Vancouver, 

 Glacier and Banff. In 1914, the writer again 

 visited the Rocky Mountains, and collected in the 

 Yoho Valley and Lake Louise, Banff and Jasper 

 Park, and also at Edmonton, Athabasca Landing 

 and Prince Albert. In 1915, he collected in the 

 lower St. Lawrence Valley, and in 1917 at Le 

 Pas and along the Hudson Bay Railway. The 

 Canadian Arctic Expedition of 1913 to 1916 made 

 a small collection of spiders on the Arctic coast 

 of Canada and Alaska. The Crocker Land ex- 



pedition also collected spiders on the west coast 

 of Greenland in 1917. Messrs. E. M. Walker 

 and T. B. Kurata of Toronto, collected spiders in 

 1913 at several points across Canada, and especial- 

 ly on Vancouver Island. Mr. N. B. Sanson of 

 Banff, has collected spiders for several years in 

 the surrounding country, especially on Sulphur 

 Mountain. Mr. M. Taylor of Vancouver, has col- 

 lected around that city and in the mountains north 

 of it. Mr. Robert Matheson collected in Nova 

 Scotia in 1913. Dr. C. W. Townsend of Boston, 

 on his visit to "Audubon's Labrador" in 1915, col- 

 lected spiders and extended the known range of 

 several species. Spiders have also been collected 

 in recent years by Mr. Norman Criddle in Mani- 

 toba, Mrs. J. H. Faull in Toronto, Mr. Charles 

 Macnamara of Arnprior, Ontario ; Mr. F. W. 

 Waugh of Ottawa, Mrs. W. W. Hippisley of 

 Dauphin, Manitoba; Prof. A. B. Klugh of King- 

 ston, Ontario; the late C. G. Hewitt, Mr. Arthur 

 Gibson, and other correspondents of the Entomo- 

 logical Branch of the Department of Agriculture 

 at Ottawa. New discoveries have been noted from 

 year to year in the Entomological Record published 

 annually in the reports of the Entomological Society 

 of Ontario. 



The spiders which Blackwall described cannot 

 now be found and apparently no care was taken 

 to preserve them after descriptions were published. 

 The spiders collected by Packard in Labrador 

 have also been lost, and some of their descriptions 

 will never be certainly identified. The spiders col- 

 lected by Tyrrell and his colleagues are in the 

 collection of the Entomological Branch at Ottawa 

 or in that of Harvard University. The collection 

 at Ottawa has been much increased in the last 

 few years and now contains probably 300 of the 

 species catalogued. The Harvard collection is 

 rich in Canadian spiders and contains most of the 



The common spiders of Canada are described 

 and illustrated in "Common Spiders of the United 

 States." by J. H. Emerton, published in 1902, by 

 Giiin & Co., Boston: "The Si)ider Book." by .1. H. 

 Comstock, published in 1012, by Doubleday, Page & 

 Co. and "American Spiders and Their Spinning 

 Work," by H. C. McCook, published by the author 

 in Philadelphia, 1889 to 1893. 



