41 PECKHAM. ' [Vol. i. 



her moving about alive and well. As we were, at this time, 

 experimenting upon the color-sense, she was placed in one of 

 the boxes of colored glass described above, and at intervals of 

 one hour, during the day, was moved from the section in which 

 she had settled to another. Every time that this removal was 

 made she fell stiffly on to her side, drawing her legs in, and 

 remained thus for about three minutes. In experimenting with 

 her afterward we found that when knocked about on a table 

 she would stay in the position in which she fell, although this 

 was often a very uncomfortable one. She showed no sign of 

 life when rolled about, but jumped up at the least prick of a 

 needle. She never remained quiet for more than twenty-seven 

 minutes, and never absolutely motionless for so long a time as 

 this, there being slight quivering movements of the legs and 

 palpi at intervals of three or four minutes. 



We had thus far found no spider that would endure bad 

 treatment without showing signs of life ; but in our next experi- 

 ment we were more successful. A female of E. instdaris, when 

 rolled about on the table, acted a good deal as hifmnata had 

 done, but had no such rigid, lifeless appearance. When she 

 was knocked or touched with the point of a needle there was a 

 convulsive twitch of the legs, though she seemed to be trying to 

 keep quiet. The first time that she was pricked so as to 

 puncture the skin she remained motionless, but at the second 

 puncture she ran. On experimenting afterward with both 

 males and females of this species we met with similar results, 

 once finding an individual that did not run until the skin had 

 been punctured five times. When the needle entered the skin 

 there was usually a twitch of the legs, which seemed to show 

 that sensation was present. Outside of this species we found 

 no spider that would endure a puncture of the skin without 

 running away, and we rarely found one that would keep quiet 

 while being handled. 



We now made a series of experiments with Epeiridae under 

 more natural conditions, alarming them as they hung in their 

 webs, and noting whether they feel, how long they kept quiet, 

 and whether they were absolutely or only comparatively still. 

 Some selections from our notes will best show what the experi- 

 ments were, and how they resulted. 



