APPENDIX. 145 



live with the female during the months of September and 

 October. The females may usually be found in their nests 

 during the daytime (always in Europe ?). 



Large spiders should be killed, or at least stupefied with 

 chloroform, before being put into spirit of wine. It is con- 

 venient to place the specimens in glass test-tubes closed with 

 corks, and filled with pure spirit of wine, as they may then 

 be examined through the glass. 



When specimens of more than one species are placed in 

 the same tube or bottle, it is well to distinguish each by a 

 number written in pencil on a small strip of card fastened 

 round the body with a slip-noose of thread. 



The patterns on the abdomen and cephalo-thorax of the 

 spiders are seen very distinctly when the spiders are immersed 

 in sj)irits of wine, and these frequently afford characters which 

 aid in determining the species. 



M. Thorell, in the introduction to his work On Fu7'opean 

 Spiders* gives a detailed account of a method by which 

 specimens may be prepared for mounting in cabinets, by dry- 

 ing them within a glass tube held over a fiame, but it would 

 appear that, for purposes of study, specimens preserved in 

 spirit of wine are far preferable. 



It is very desirable to obtain characteristic portions of, or if 

 possible entire nests, but where the tubes are long, this is 

 extremely difficult to do satisfactorily. 



Some nests, preserved in the British Museum, have been 

 coated with thin glue, and this appears to be of some use in 

 binding the parts together. I find that by stuffing the tube 

 full of cotton-wool, before attempting to remove the earth, 

 the nest may sometimes be obtained in tolerably good con- 

 dition. 



* Thorell (T.), On European Spiders, in Nova Acta Eegiee Societ. Scientiar. 

 Tpsaliensis, ser. 3, vol. viii. fasc. I. et II. (Uj)sala, 1871). 



