Baffshot direction if hunted for. Fpeira gibbosa is a humpy black 

 spider, which sits on pine twigs at Oxshott, and looks very much 

 like a little wooden lump. Kpeira cucmbitina is green, and sits 

 amongst the green pine needles. The light mottled markings of 

 TrocJwsa picta make it almost invisible on the sandy paths where it 

 hunts its prey. The grey body of the jumping spider Marpessa 

 wuscosa, is very inconspicuous on the pine trunks, ihere is tne 

 rare and bold Saltiru^ forimcarius, which very much resembles 

 the ants with which it lives. Then there are other small 

 spiders which inhabit ants' nests and which do not resemble ants. 

 The ants seem to tolerate them, and in return the spiders get pro- 

 tection Protection from what ? We probably do not often think 

 of spiders having enemies, yet they have vast numbers of very 

 terrible foes. Ants destroy large numbers, so any spiders which can 

 make peace with them do well. Solitary wasps account for large 

 numbers Psavniicchan'^ riaticiiti is a common red and black bodied 

 wasp at Oxshott, and on sunny days it may be seen busily hunting 

 for spiders. Trochosa terricola is its special prey. This is a large 

 grey-brown wolf-spider. Occasionally Tarantula barhpes and Tro- 

 chosa picta are taken instead. The paralysed spiders are buried 

 together with an egg of the wasp, which soon hatches and feeds on 

 the fresh meat provided. Other and perhaps even more terrible 

 enemies of the spiders are ichneumons. Many content themselves 

 with laying their eggs in the spider's egg cocoons, but some bolder 

 ones go so far as to lay an egg on the body of the spider itself, in 

 the small of the back as it were, just where the victim cannot reach 

 it ri ] The spider goes about as usual for some time, though it does 

 not moult a,gain, but finally, just before the ichneumon larva pupates, 

 the spider dies. There are many other formidable enemies, but the 

 ones mentioned above will serve to show what a great advantage a 

 spider which resembles its surroundings has over one which does 

 not. If Trochosa picta was as conspicuous as TrocJwsa terricola the 

 wasp Psavwiochares viaticus would probably attack it as often as the 

 latter, but as things are it is a very rare occurrence. 



By puUing up heather growing on banks at Oxshott we may be 

 able to see an earthy tube, about two inches in length, lying along 

 the surface. If we dig around this it will be found to extend down 

 into the ground to a distance of perhaps six or more inches, and 

 inside it, at the bottom, a spider will be found of a very peculiar 

 shape. It has short plump legs, and on examination it will be 

 found to have large jaws working downwards instead of horizontal y 

 as in the case of other spiders. It does, in fact, belong to an entirely 

 different group to any other British spider. It belongs to the group 

 which includes all the large hairy tropical spiders and Trap-Door 

 Spiders. The burrow of our spider merely consists of a closed 

 silken tube, which it never leaves. In habits it is nocturnal, and 

 when an insect walks over the exposed surface it transfixes it with 



