32 



AMERICAK SPIDERS AND THEIR SPIXXIXtaVORIC. 



ing Speci 

 mens 



indiciitp the .species, and tliese placed in small pa))er trays (see Fig. 19), 

 liound in by two India rnbber bands slipped over the box. These trays 

 are placed npon end inside of my cabinet boxes, and the name 

 ^l^^l^' ■ ^^ *^"^ s;p'^'C"i<?s marked distinctly on the top. Any otiier notes 

 as to date, locality, etc., can be jotted upon the back or on the 

 inside of the tray. The trays may be readily stored in Ijoxes 

 with stiff pasteboard or wooden partitions, according to the width of the 

 tray, and the whole kept in a small cabinet. (Fig. 20.) A quite small 

 cabinet will suffice to contain all the species of any neighborhood. 



A stout umbrella is a very important implement in collecting. The 

 open umbrella should be placed (handle upwards) underneath tiie bushes, 

 and these beaten in the ordinary way. AVhen the umlirella is lifted aside, 

 there will be found numbers of insects of various kinds, along with liits 



of leaves, twigs, etc., anil more or 

 fewer spiders of various sorts. These 

 can readily be taken in boxes or in 

 the collecting bottle. 1 have often 

 found advantage in liolding the um- 

 brella off a little distance and invert- 

 ing it slowly. The rubbish will drop 

 on the ground and the s])iders will 

 also fall, but hold un to the little 

 dropline wliich they instinctively 

 throw out when falling. The bottle 

 ' can then be rapidly idaced beneath 

 these swinging individuals, who are 

 thus secured. The ordinary ento- 

 mologist's bag may also be used for sweeping the grasses and hedge rows. 

 Many species will be found by sifting the fallen leaves and other rubbish 

 of the woods and fields, within which they hide. Others will l)e found 

 underneath the bark of old trees and fallen logs. 



A cupping glass and a card usually answer for collecting large ground 

 spiders. I have taken the great tarantula of Texas in this way, wateliing 

 my opportunit}^ to slip the glass over the animal. The card is 

 Solders tlu'ii graduall}' introduced between the glass and the ground, 

 and tlie sjjider can thus lie lifted uji in the hand. A small vial 

 of chloroform or ether for such i)urposes may be carried in the satchel. 

 A i^ellet of cotton, moistened in either of these drugs, if slip]>ed under- 

 neath the card within the cupping glass, will soon overcome the animal, 

 wliich may then be droi)[)ed without inconvenience into the alcohol. 



I have never had any hesitation in handling oiu' indigenous spiders in 

 order to collect them, tliough, of course, I should not care to lay hands 

 on a tarantula, and am careful with our largest s})ecies of Lj'cosids. But 

 there are few spiders, perhaps there are none, in our Northern and Mid- 



FiG. 20. A collector's cabinet. 



