72 S. J. Mc'iNTIRE ON CHEAP AIDS TO MICROSCOPICAL STUDIES. 



months. As an instance, I exhibit a nest of Podurse, the indi- 

 viduals in which have furnished me with many hours of interesting 

 employment during the past two months. Other specimens not so 

 delicate as the Podur^e, have been in captivity for nearly a whole 

 year in cells similar to those I am describing. In one I have 

 eight specimens of the white Podurse (a peculiarly delicate insect), 

 which were imj^risoned last October, i.e., five months ago, and they 

 still seem quite contented. 



Provided with a good many of these cells, or similar ones, and 

 determined to use them, I think our microscopical friends will find 

 a new mode of utilising their captures of rare specimens, and a store 

 of intellectual enjoyment in watching their habits and peculiarities, 

 far beyond that found in merely multiplying the objects in their 

 cabinets, even omitting all consideration of the value in a scientific 

 point of view, that such observations possess. 



Aided by these cells, I have been able to ascertain several addi- 

 tional interesting facts in the history of my microscopical pets. 

 Thus, I am now quite certain that the species of Chelifer which I 

 had the pleasure of describing last October is able to spin a web, 

 and spends the winter in a silken home of its own making ; but if 

 the web be destroyed, it will desert the ruins of it to enter the web 

 of another Chelifer, disputing possession with the rightful owner. 

 The Podurae, too, I find are occasionally guilty of cannibalism, eat- 

 ing up their dead brethren with evident satisfaction. 



