Myers. — Bionomic Notes on some New Zealand Spiders. 251 



Art. XXVIII. — Bionomic Notes on some Neiv Zealand Spiders, with 

 a Plea for the Validity of the Species Araneus orientals Urquhart. 



By John G. Myers, F.E.S. 



[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 27th October, 1920 ; received by Editor. 

 31st December, 1920 ; issued separately, 20th July, 1921.] 



The following notes, representing some of the results of observations in 

 the insectary and in the field, extending over a considerable period, are 

 merely preliminary indications of the fact that our native spiders as well 

 repay study as those more favoured French species immortalized by Fabre. 



Hemicloea alacris de Dalmas. 



Below the bark which fits closely on old logs and stumps are found the 

 egg-cocoons of this species. In appearance each is a disc about 1 in. in 

 diameter, adhering closely to the log, since it is not disturbed when the 

 tight-covering bark is stripped off. An edging of flocculent looser silk 

 fastens it to the wood. On a closer examination the nest is found to be 

 composed of two similar circular pieces of close-textured, smooth, white 

 silk, fastened at the circumference and closely imprisoning the eggs, which 

 are whitish in colour and, unlike those of many other species, non-adherent 

 to one another. The young are white or colourless, with large swelling 

 abdomina, dorsally convex, and thus offering a striking contrast to the 

 thin bodies of the adults, which are dorsoventrally flattened to an extreme 

 degree — an admirable adaptation to their life beneath the bark. It seems 

 probable that the rounded abdomina of the young point to a descent from 

 typical Drassids (Gnaphosids) with normal abdomina. When opened the 

 nest is found to contain nothing in the nature of packing. Doubtless the 

 soft bedding protecting the eggs of many other spiders is here rendered 

 unnecessary by the sheltered position beneath the bark. 



Other flat-bodied bark-spiders of the genus Hemicloea are frequently 

 observed in the course of entomological field-work, but only this species, 

 with its egg-cocoon, has been determined with certainty. 



Argiope protensa L. Koch. 



This striking and handsome species haunts low herbage and rushes, 

 among which its egg-cocoon may be found in February and March. It- is 

 suspended by a loose envelope of white fluffy silk in which the cocoon is 

 supported by stays in several directions. The cocoon itself, with a length 

 of Jin., is cylindrical, rounded at the bottom, with a flat and dilated top. 

 Its material is very close -textured lustrous silk, bearing a considerable 

 resemblance to the case-stuff of the bag-moth (Oeceticus omnivorus), but 

 exhibiting a much smoother surface. Its attractive appearance is heightened 

 by its colours of greenish-white below, merging into a dark greenish-brown 

 above, where the flat top with its crenate edges resembles, and probably 

 functions as, a lid. As is almost invariably the case, the nest, at least in 

 captivity, is built in a single night. 



