THE society's NOTE-BOOKS. 87 



Sozodont Tooth Powder comes from Virginia City, Nevada, 

 California. A specimen in my possession has many more diatoms 

 in it than this one. It is the silex of the diatoms that gives the 

 imputed value to this dentifrice. A. Cl.arke-Smuh. 



Stylops.— A very good description of this insect, with figures, 

 may be found in Science Gossip, 1870, p. 4. Shuckard also gives 

 them a paragraph in British Bees, p. 208. Chas. D. Soar. 



Atypus sulzeri.— This spider is glossy, the cephalothorax of 

 the female is reddish brown. The male is darker ; a smooth oval 

 space, of a leathery substance, occurs on the front half of the 

 upper side of the abdomen in the male. This spider is easily 

 known by the great size of the cephalothorax and falces. 



Atypus forms a tunnel in damp earth ; at the end of this 

 gallery, which runs in a horizonal direction at first, and dips down 

 afterwards, the spider remains crouching and waiting for its prey. 

 The female deposits there her cocoon, which is guarded from 

 the dampness of the earth by being placed on a cushion, formed 

 of a sticky material and the fibres of plants. Atypus feigns death 

 when taken. Chas. D. Soar. 



Clutiona amarantha.— In this spider the front row of eyes is 

 the shorter, the middle eyes of the head row are rather wide 

 apart ; the falces are hairy and have a few small teeth ; the 

 maxillae are strong, straight, and gibbous, enlarged at the inser- 

 tions of the palpi. The lip is small at the base, and cut straight 

 at the tip ; the breast-plate is oval ; the cephalothorax is broadest 

 behind, and wide at the face ; the shield is yellowish-brown, 

 reddish in front, and thinly clothed with hairs, a few black hairs 

 also occurring on the fore part. A dark line reaches about half 

 of its length, and is succeeded by a series of lines in the form of 

 obtuse angles, diminishing in length as they approach the tips. 

 The legs are hairy, spinous, and pale, and there is a hair pad 

 below the claws. The female is a little more than a quarter of an 

 inch long. They feed much upon the eggs of other spiders. 



The above has been slightly abbreviated from Staveley's 

 British Spiders. Spiders would prove a most interesting study. 

 I should like to see it taken up more than has been done by our 

 members lately. Chas. D. Soar. 



