BLACKWALl/s SPIDERS OP GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 415 



enhance of the pharynx. Numerous circumstances tend to prove that spiders are 

 endowed with considerable delicacy of touch, but the installments more especially 

 adapted to bring them into relation with surrounding objects are the legs and palpi. 

 The presence of eyes, which are of the kind termed simple, in opposition to those 

 of insects and crustaceous animals, which are denominated compound, leaves no 

 doubt relative to the sight of spiders, though, in all probability, they see objects dis- 

 tinctly at short distances only." 



They appear to "be less subject to parasites than many other 

 animals, but Polysphinata carbonaria, one of the Ichneumonida?, lays 

 its eggs in the bodies of young Spiders, which when thus infested never 

 come to maturity. 



Mr. Blackwall's present volume, however, being devoted to the 

 description and classification of Spiders, their anatomy and habits are 

 only mentioned incidentally, and he refers to his Memoir in the Trans- 

 actions of the British Association for 1844 As regards the function 

 performed by the palpi of the male, his subsequent investigations 

 have confirmed him in the belief that these " organs are the only 

 efficient instruments employed by male spiders in the propagation of 

 their species." It is, however, unnecessary to observe that the sper- 

 matozoa do not originate in this position ; the testes are, as is well 

 known, situated in the abdomen, and Treviranus has shown, that the 

 vas deferens of the male opens in the same position as that of the 

 female. It would appear, therefore, though Mr. Blackwall has not 

 noticed the fact, that the semen must pass externally into the palpi, 

 and be there retained until it is required. Nor is this incredible, 

 since after the extraordinary facts which have been observed in cer- 

 tain Cuttlefishes and Centipedes, no mode of impregnation ought to 

 stagger us. 



In conclusion, it may perhaps be well to say a few words about 

 the irregularity in the appearance of the Bay Society's Volumes. 

 Neither the fact, nor the inconvenience, can be denied, but the remedy 

 is not so plain. The arrangements have always been made three or 

 four years in advance, the books have been promised by the authors, 

 the authors have been applied to from time to time, and it is difficult 

 to see what more the Council could have done.* Neither can we 

 throw much blame on the authors. No one for instance will accuse 

 Mr. Huxley or Mr. Blackwall of idleness ; the delay has been mainly 

 caused by their wish to render their works as perfect as possible, and 

 so much excellence may well atone for some little unpunctuality. 



We understand, however, that Mr. Carrey's translation of Hof- 

 meister is in a forward condition, and that- it will be published within 

 the year, and we hope that this may be the beginning of greater re- 

 gularity ; but at any rate the large number of subscribers shows that 

 the publications of "the Bay Society are well appreciated by natura- 

 lists, and that the members, even if they not unnaturally grumble a 

 little, still take for their motto, "better late than never." 



* In the present case indeed much delay was caused by the fact that it was 

 found necessary to colour the plates by hand. 

 YOL. I. — N. H. E. 3 H 



