1898.] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 133 



attempt to make a nest of any kind. They never ate their skins, 

 as many insects, and even some of the vertebrates do. Mean- 

 while, the mother spider made a new burrow and hatched a sec- 

 ond brood. These were not quite so numerous, and as the Sum- 

 mer was nearly spent I did not save any of them. The mother 

 began one more egg-ball after this, but when it was only partly 

 done she gave it up and spun no more. 



Of the six I had saved, three died and one escaped before they 

 had outgrown the pill-boxes. One survivor was kept through 

 the Winter and the next succeeding Summer, when I gave it its 

 freedom. Having been raised in a box this spider never tried to 

 get out, and did not seem to be aware of when the lid was off. 

 When finally I let it go I had to poke it out of the box, and then 

 it acted as if it were in a new country, feeling its way along 

 through the grass then stopping to rest. Spiders that were cap- 

 tured in the adult state always ran very briskly when they regained 

 their freedom. 



In the matter of catching flies this spider was an acrobat, and 

 I am sure could detect motion at a distance of at least two inches. 

 There was one particular corner in which I always put the flies 

 and if the spider was hungry it could see those flies coming 

 through the hole and came up to seize them, as they came in, 

 almost out of my fingers. I have seen it clinging to the top of 

 the box and the instant a fly passed beneath, it dropped down 

 right side up and caught its victim. Never once did I see this 

 spider miss its mark. It did not spring until it was sure, but it 

 never miscalculated. If the spider had eaten nothing for several 

 days it would catch flies at long distances and in the most awkward 

 positions. It would catch them in succession, too, until it held 

 three in its jaws at the same time. If it was not very hungry it 

 did not catch flies until they came within easy range. Some- 

 times, when the spider was fasting, a fly might walk over its legs 

 and cause it to twitch them out of the way, but it would not 

 catch the fly. One time I placed a large ichneumon-fly in the 

 box. The spider stole up to it and barely touched it with the 

 tip of its foot, as a cricket would feel with its antennae, then 

 waited; the ichneumon moved and the spider touched it again. 

 But the spider went no nearer and would not seize the ichneumon, 

 although it flew right against the spider. The spider evidently 

 appreciated something not to its taste in the ichneumon and this 



