THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 35 



rather an unusual proceeding, at least with the majority of 

 the Arachnida, for, as a rule, I find them very shy, especially 

 the larger specimens. 



Sept. 14th. — During the night a change had taken place 

 among the spiders, and I found that the plucky little straw- 

 coloured fellow had been either turned out or devoured by a 

 nevi^ comer. This was a very much larger specimen, and 

 seemed very shy, making off as soon as my hand came near 

 the web ; it also refused all my offers of food, and allowed 

 more than one fly to get away without even attempting to 

 capture them. I next tried to induce the spider in the 

 corner to seize another fly, but without success ; although the 

 day before it had been so eager to take them, even from my 

 hand. From this it would appear that certain of the 

 Arachnida, after their appetite is satisfied, are disinclined to 

 make any efforts to secure their prey, until hunger compels 

 them to do so. But that it is not the case with all may be 

 shown by the readiness of some of the Epeirse to lay in a 

 large stock of provisions. On one occasion a specimen of 

 Epeira Diadema took from my hand six flies, one after the 

 other, winding them all up, and securing them in the usual 

 manner to the web. This reminds me of an interesting fact 

 mentioned to me lately by a friend of mine, who is a close 

 observer of spiders and their habits. Certain spiders, 

 if they kill a number of flies that they cannot readily 

 dispose of at once, will devour them one by one, as they 

 require food, but keeping to the order in which they were 

 killed; the fly captured first being eaten before any of the 

 others, and so on in order. 



Se))t. 25th. — I noticed that numbers of ladybirds (Cocci- 

 nellae) had made their appearance, most of them being 

 clustered in little groups in the corners of the window panes. 

 The day before not one of them was visible. I placed one in 

 the web of a large spider, located under the gas-pipe, to see 

 what would be the result. The spider ran out at once, but 

 cautiously approached the little red insect, and then made a 

 sort of peck at it with its falces, drawing back at once: this 

 was repeated two or three times ; then the spider slowly put 

 forward one leg and touched the Coccinella on the back, but 

 immediately withdrew it, and with that sudden erratic move- 

 ment so noticeable in the Arachnida, turned round and 



