134 



ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [June, 



would go to show that the spider is guided by something more 

 than the mere motion of a smaller creature in selecting- its food. 

 I noticed also that the older spider did not like metallic-green 

 flies. She would not eat them unless very hungry indeed. On 

 several occasions she dropped them uneaten, although usually 

 they flew about the box unnoticed. That mere motion plays a 

 large part in recognizing food, however, is evident from the fact 

 that often when I moved my finger back and forth over the glass 

 the spider came up to that place evidently expecting flies. That 

 the spider followed the motion of the flies at times was also evi- 

 dent, for I have seen it elevate or lower its head in the direction 

 of the fly, turn its entire body around as the fly moved, and in 

 some cases follow it. On one occasion no flies were to be had, 

 and finally I decided to try raw meat. As long as the meat 

 merely lay in the box the spider would not touch it, but when I 

 put a thread through it and swung it back and forth the spider 

 rushed out and seized its supposed prey. The meat once in its 

 jaws the spider deigned to eat it. After a few days, however, 

 it refused to eat meat. I then offered it cooked meat and even 

 bits of hash which satisfied it for a few days more, when I suc- 

 ceeded in obtaining some flies. 



Meanwhile the mother spider was unmistakably growing old. 

 She could not catch flies unless they were very close, and even 

 then she frequently lost her hold of them. Her jaws seemed to 

 have lost all their power and gradually stiffened, until finally she 

 made no attempt to catch flies. Her legs and body came to have 

 a shriveled, dried appearance, and she walked unsteadily, rolling 

 from side to side. Her faculties were failing just as surely as 

 they do in higher animals, and one morning I found her stiff to 

 the last degree and dead. 



o 



NOTES ON AMERICAN SPHINGID/E.-IL 



By WILLIAM SCHAUS. 



The following notes are in continuation of a paper published 

 in ENT. NEWS vol. vi, p. 141. 



Theretra epaphus. 



Cheer, epaphus Bdv., Sp. Gen. Het. i, p. 267, 1875. [iSSr. 



Cheer, cyrene Druce, Biol. Cent. -Am., Lep. Het. i, p. u, T. i, f. 5. 

 Theretra dnicei Kirby, Cat. Lep. Het. p. 658. 



