322 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



It seems, therefore, that either there is a third unmentioned class of boys, who are 

 neither boarders nor day boys, or else it is necessary to warn the boys, both 

 boarders and day boys, not to play truant on the very first day that studies 

 begin — viz., Thursday. Surely discipline must be lax if such a contingency is 

 contemplated. The boarders are to be in their Houses, the day boys are to 

 present themselves (but to whom ? and where ?), and all boys, whether previously 

 at the College or not, are to be in school at 8.50 a.m. on Thursday. Let us hope 

 there are sign-posts to direct the new boys from the College to the School, or they 

 may not be punctual, and then they will be held personally responsible. The 

 situation seems to be a curious one. If all the boys are to be in the School, what 

 is the use of the College ? 



"All new boys, whether previously examined or not, will be examined, for the 

 purpose of determining the Form which they will enter, on Wednesday, May 2nd, 

 from 9 to 12.15 and from 2 to 4.15." 



" For those who do Greek or German, papers will be set on Tuesday evening 

 from 7 to 8.30." But what is to become of the unhappy boys who "do" Greek 

 or German, and understand that they need not be in School (or College) till 

 Wednesday or Thursday ? 



These regulations were sent to me by a despairing parent who wished to 

 conform with them, but could not understand how they applied to his son. I 

 studied them long and carefully, and was quite unable to advise him. If they had 

 been drawn up by any one but an accomplished classical scholar, I should have 

 said that they showed the grossest ignorance of the construction of English, and 

 that the man who drew them up ought to go to school — preferably a Board 

 School — for elementary instruction in his own language ; but, as they are con- 

 cocted by an accomplished classical scholar, M.A. of Oxford and Scholar of his 

 College, and as a knowledge of Latin and Greek gives to the fortunate possessor 

 a perfect command over English, a command that cannot be acquired in any 

 other way, I am compelled to conclude that the regulations have been drawn with 

 the intention of puzzling and confusing the reader, and of securing the certainty 

 that they cannot all be complied with. The only discernible motive for rendering 

 the regulations unintelligible is indicated by the words personally responsible. 

 What an orgy of birching must usher in the term ! and how the Principal must 

 chuckle and enjoy himself ! 



FURTHER NOTES ON CAPTIVE SPIDERS (Theodore Savory, 

 Exhibitioner of St. John's College, Cambridge). 



Several points of certain interest in the economy of spiders have arisen since 

 the publication of my paper on Tcgenaria atrica, Clerck, in Science PROGRESS 

 for October 1916. 



One of the most fascinating occurred with a pair of Agelena labyrinthica, 

 Clerck, which — in the face of popular opinion of all spiders — were living together 

 peaceably enough. I admitted a fly to the cage, and the female, much the 

 bolder and more active, caught it by the leg. The male now rushed up, and in 

 the melee which followed, the fly escaped. Soon, however, the female caught the 

 fly again, and I, hoping to prevent a competition which might end fatally, put in a 

 second fly to attract the attention of the male. But not he ! A bird in the hand 

 being worth more than one in the bush, he approached the female, who had the 

 fly by its thorax, and buried his cheliceras into its abdomen. Thus they remained 



