22 



NOTES ON THE SPIDERS OBSERVED AT 

 THE MEETING IN EPPING FOREST, 



JULY 26th, 1902. 



Bv FRANK P. SMITH. 



ON this ramble the following species were listed, the localities 

 being Epping Thicks, Ambresbury Banks, and Honey 

 Lane Quarters : — 



Harpactes hombergii. 



Clubiona terrestris. 



Clubiona diversa 5 . First record for the Forest. 



Tegenaria atrica. This species is not uncommon in the 

 Forest, spinning an extensive sheet of web behind 

 which is a tubular opening leading to a usually very 

 secure retreat. 



Agelena labyrinthica. Common in the ditches by the 

 side of the Epping Road. I have never seen specimens 

 in positions so exposed to the fingers of the araneologist. 

 The sheet-like snares are usually placed amongst 

 rank herbages, often amongst brambles or furze, and 

 the occupants are thus well protected. In the present 

 instance the webs were greatly exposed and the tubular 

 retreat very short, leadmg simply to slight holes in the 

 muddy sides of the ditch. 



Pisaura mirabilis. Females were found w^ith egg-sacs and 

 also with newly-hatched families. The egg sac, which 

 is globular, is carried about by means of the falces and 

 palpi ; and after a time it is deposited upon the top of 

 some slender plant (often a fern) where it is shrouded in 

 a kind of silken cage of considerable dimensions (often 

 3 inches in diameter). Here the young are hatched, the 

 female being usually found in the immediate vicinity 

 carefully watching her charge. 



Lycosa lugubris. Females also of this species were found,, 

 some with egg-sacs and others with families. The egg- 

 sacs, lenticular in shape, are attached to the spinners ; 

 and the young when hatched cling to the body of the 

 mother, scattering if disturbed, but re-congregating as 

 soon as the danger has passed away. 



