No. 2.] MENTAL POWERS OF SPIDERS. 389 



Hoping to throw some light on the matter, we made a few ex- 

 periments to determine whether spiders deprived of their palpi 

 would respond to a test of their sense of smell. 



Taking two females oi Argiope riparia that had shown them- 

 selves sensitive to cologne, heliotrope, oil of lavender, and a 

 perfume called Chinese bouquet, we carefully removed their 

 palpi and replaced them in their webs. They spent some hours 

 in rubbing the tips of their legs over the wounded parts, but by 

 the following morning appeared quite comfortable, and break- 

 fasted, with appetite, upon some grasshoppers with which we 

 provided them. 



We tested the first one, after the usual check with a clean 

 rod, by holding a rod wet with cologne at first in front of her, 

 and then at the posterior end of the abdomen. In the course 

 of twenty-five minutes there was no more decided response than 

 an occasional slight jerk of the abdomen or a faint movement 

 of the legs. Oil of lavender was then held in front of her. 

 Instantly the legs contracted and their tips were rubbed, one at 

 a time, upon the fakes. 



Passing to the second and offering the clean rod without 

 response, we tested her with heliotrope and Chinese bouquet. 

 To each she responded quickly by jerking the abdomen and 

 rubbing the tips of the legs over the falces. 



To sum u-p our work on the sense of smell, we made, in all, 

 two hundred and twenty experiments. We found three species 

 {Argyrocpeira hortorum, Dolomedes tenebrosus, and Herpyllus 

 ecclesiasticus) that did not respond to the tests. In all other 

 cases it was evident that the scent was perceived by the spiders. 

 This they showed in different ways, — by various movements of 

 the legs, palpi, and abdomen, by shaking their webs, by run- 

 ning away, by seizing the rod and binding it up with web as 

 they would an insect, and in the case of the Attidae, by 

 approaching the rod with the first legs and palpi held erect; but 

 whether in the way of attacking it, or, as it sometimes seemed, 

 because the smell was pleasant to them, it is impossible to say. 



We add a list of the species experimented upon: — 



Epeira infumata Hentz, Epeira insularis Hentz, Epeira strix 

 Hentz, Epeira labyrinthea Hentz, Epeira bombycinaria Hentz, 

 Cyllopodia cavata Hentz, Cyclosa conica Menge, Argiope 

 riparia Hentz, Argyroepeira hortorum Hentz, Tetragnatha 



