IS powerful jaws and hauls ifc through the tube, returning to repair 

 It later. As the spider does not leave its nest it will appear at first 

 to have a very small hunting ground-merely two inches of tube 

 lymg along the ground— but two aiding factors must be mentioned. 

 Branch tubes are sometimes formed, thus increasing the hunting 

 area It will be found that many of these keep below the surface" 

 which at first sight would appear to make them useless, but when 

 one finds one of them eating a worm our opinion changes. To what 

 extent this habit goes on we do not yet know. Another factor to be 

 taken into account is the richness of the fauna under the heather on 

 these banks There are large numbers of insects and several other 

 kinds ot spiders. I'eponncraniu,,, litdicnim is a little yellow spider 

 with a very queer projecting lump on its head in the male sex. 

 lapinof.a hnujidem makes a little shiny web across depressions in 

 the ground. Macrar;n,H r„fus is a black-bodied spider with a red 

 cephalothorax. Trac/,osa terricola, the large wolf-spider, which is 

 hunted by the solitary wasp. Two species of E„opl,niH (.Juuipin^- 

 spiders) (one of which I have not found in the adult state, so 

 cannot definitely record-probably E. petrensis), and many other 

 species, all occur under heather. 



The water-spider is found in the Black Pool at Oxshott, and around 

 its borders several spiders of interest occur. There are three species 

 oilnata (^\olf-splders). The largest one, l\ piscatnna, makes a 

 silken tube, open at each end, going down into moss by the water's 

 edge, and if disturbed it can escape from the bottom by divin^' into 

 the water and climbing along water plants below the surface! So 

 the water-spider is not the only member of the group which can 

 brave the water. Dolomede^ fi»'Matns, the so-called Raft-spider is 

 another- semi-aquatic form. This chocolate-brown species is the 

 largest British spider, and it should turn up in mar>hy places in 

 burrey, as I have taken it not very far away in Berkshire. Seeing 

 all these spiders capable of taking down air with them under water 

 caught by the hairs of the body and legs, made me wonder whether 

 they were specially adapted, or whether it was merely a 

 matter of trial, so I collected various land spiders and pushed them 

 under the surface. I found that they automatically took air down 

 with them entangled in the hairs of their body. I went further with 

 a young Tef/enaria (House-spider). I kept on pushing it under until 

 a larger bubble than usual was caught, and then 1 held it under. 

 It walked about, and did not seem to be any the worse for two or 

 three hours, by which time the bubble had been used up. So the 

 semi-aquatic and aquatic spiders must first have experimented, pos- 

 sibly diving from an enemy as the Lycosids do now, and havin^ 

 found the life a success kept to it. A point of interest is that a spider 

 ike Tenenana is helpless if thrown on the water, and can live much 

 longer if pushed right under. 



Spiders are very short-sighted, though most of them possess eight 



