12 F. P. SMITH ON THE SPIDERS OF THE SUB-FAMILY ERIGONINAE. 



gardens, fields, and forests have been consigned to oblivion, for 

 no other reason than that they occupy a position somewhere 

 between the microscopical and non-microscopical spheres of 

 research. The Dublin Microscopical Club has been responsible 

 for some valuable araneological work ; why should not we be 

 likewise ? 



Before examining our spider we must catch it, and a few 

 brief remarks upon the collection of specimens may therefore 

 be of use. The requisite apparatus is of a most unassuming 

 type, and all the necessary articles could no doubt be found 

 amongst the paraphernalia of the average microscopist. An 

 umbrella, the older the better, a newspaper, a pair of forceps, 

 a few dry tubes of various sizes, a bottle of methylated spirit, 

 and a note-book ; these for all ordinary purposes conclude our 

 list. I might have included a strong net for " sweeping " low 

 herbage, but personally I deprecate this somewhat wholesale 

 and promiscuous method of collecting ; for not only are the 

 captures exposed to considerable risk of damage by reason of 

 the struggling mass of insects which accumulates at the 

 bottom of the net, but any notes as to habitat or snare are 

 entirely precluded. 



The umbrella is held in an inverted position under trees, 

 which are beaten or shaken to dislodge some, at any rate, of 

 their tenants. A few species cling to the foliage with such 

 pertinacity that nothing short of close search will enable the 

 collector to obtain them. The newspaper is spread upon the 

 ground whilst tufts of grass or low herbage are being violently 

 shaken or torn to pieces above it. This method is, as a rule, 

 especially productive, yielding a rich harvest of the more minute 

 forms, chiefly of the family Linyphiidae. The dry tubes are used 

 for obtaining species capable of rapid gradatorial progression, the 

 specimens being hustled by means of one hand into the tube 

 held by the other, and the opening then promptly closed. The 

 minute species of Erigoninae, with which I wish to deal in the 

 present paper, are most easily captured by means of a wetted 

 finger, being thence transferred to the spirit-bottle. Further 

 information on collecting may be obtained ] from the Rev. 0. P. 



