170 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



pas qu'elles auroient a me montrer tant de choses singulieres." 

 He tells us that the spider spun a geometrical web in the box in 

 which it was confined, but soon after he observed that the spider 

 had fallen dead at the bottom of the box, and that the parasitic 

 larva was spinning an elongate white cocoon in the centre of the 

 web. Eight days later a very small Ichneumon emerged from the 

 cocoon ; it is described as of about the size of an AjJcinteles, and of 

 no remarkable structure. His diagnosis runs : — Ichneumon noir 

 a antennes filiformes, a deux rayes jaundtres sii?' le corcelet et a 

 pattesjaujies. Considering the size, this can hardly apply to a 

 Polysphincta ; but possibly a hyperparasite may have been bred, 

 or possibly this note may lead to the identification of a small 

 black Ichneumon with yellow legs and with two longitudinal 

 yellow marks on the thorax. 



Westwood next refers to these external parasites in his 

 masterly 'Introduction' (vol. ii., p. 148). Quoting Dilwynn, he 

 says, " I have frequently observed a small black species [of 

 Ichneumon] successively deposit an egg in the abdomen of two or 

 more spiders on the sand-hills [near Swansea]; and I doubt 

 whether the spider had in any case arrived at its maturity." 



John Blackwall, in the course of his researches into the 

 functions and economy of our indigenous spiders, met with their 

 external parasites on several occasions. He bred Polysphincta 

 carbonator, Gr., twice in 1838 from Epeira antriada, one female 

 on June 27th from the spider taken in April, and one male on 

 August 16th from the spider taken on July 20th. He also tells 

 us that an Ichneumon larva is frequently found attached to the 

 base of the abdomen, or between the abdomen and cephalothorax 

 of Linyphia minuta or L. pusilla, and that it feeds upon their 

 juices, ultimatel}^ occasioning its death. The larvse were stated 

 to spin silken cocoons, and were most probably those of Poly- 

 sphincta or Acrodactyla (Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., xi., 1; 184 3). 

 Blackwall says that only one larva is found on a spider, " which 

 Indeed could not supply sufficient nourishment for two"; but 

 Boie on June 14 th found two immature specimens of Epeira 

 diademata, one of which supported two larvae of Polysphincta 

 carhonator, and the other three ; only one, however, on each 

 spider reaching maturity. They spun their cocoons on June 21st, 

 and the Ichneumons emerged on July 1st (Stett. Ent. Zeit., 

 vii., 292). 



In June, 185(5, Dr. A. Laboulbene found in the middle of a 



