4i6 



PECKHAM. [Vol. i. 



whether alarm may cause them to fall into a kataplectic state in 

 which they will endure bad treatment without showing any sign 

 of pain. 



Duncan, " On Instinct," says that spiders while feigning death 

 "will suffer themselves to be pierced with pins and torn to 

 pieces without discovering the smallest signs of terror," and 

 Darwin refers to De Geer as saying that some insects may be 

 cruelly roasted at a slow fire without the slightest movement. 

 Out of the species with which we experimented we found one 

 which would endure a moderate amount of pricking with a 

 needle, and a second which did not move when its legs were 

 pinched. Beyond this there was no stoicism under anything 

 that approached bad treatment, although a few species allowed 

 themselves to be handled without showing signs of life. We 

 do not believe that any spider which came under our obser- 

 vation ever fell into a kataplectic condition. Our reasons for 

 this disbelief may be formulated as follows : — 



As a usual thing the spiders did not become motionless as 

 soon as they were alarmed, but only after a preliminary ar- 

 rangement of their legs, which tended to make them incon- 

 spicuous. 



During the time that they were quiet they frequently 

 were not absolutely motionless, there being not only slight 

 quiverings of the terminal joints of the legs, but also slight 

 changes of position. 



When a vibrating tuning-fork was brought into contact with 

 the web of a spider which, upon being alarmed, had dropped 

 to the ground, and was lying motionless, it quickly ran up the 

 line, apparently not being able to resist the inclination to secure 

 its supposed victim. 



While lying motionless in time of danger they were not in- 

 sensitive to pain, and would seldom endure even a gentle touch 

 without running. 



The gist of the matter is, that certain Epeiridse, when 

 alarmed, drop from the web and remain quiet for a longer 

 or shorter time, their concealment being greatly assisted by the 

 protective coloring which is present to some extent in nearly all 

 of them. This amounts to nothing more than that when an- 

 other spider runs to a place of safety, an Epeirid drops a greater 

 or less distance (in the case of C. cavata only an eighth of an 



