THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 199 



which I adopted. I ara still ignorai)t of the laws regulating 

 the quotation of authors, and of their being binding on the 

 adoption of manuscript names. In my first notice of tlie 

 Osmia pilicornis 1 have slated that it was first taken by 

 Captain lilomer. 



Frederick Smith. 

 Britislj Museum, Dec, 1866. 



Notes on the Habits of Epeira apoclisa. 

 By Frederick Smith, Esq. 



About the middle of the month of August last I started 

 for a walk over the sand-hills that lie between Deal and 

 Sandwich : a considerable portion of the footpath runs along 

 the side of one of those ditches which, in a sort of labyrin- 

 thine net-work, intersect the vast tract of meadow-land that 

 stretches out in level extent as lar as the ancient city of 

 Canterbury. These ditches are the resort of many species of 

 Hydradephaga, but on the occasion referred to 1 was not 

 bent on entomological pursuits. A great variety of water- 

 plants are to be ibund in these ditches, and in former years I 

 have taken Donacia crassipes, dentijjes, nigra and Menyan- 

 thidis, as well as Erirhinus Festucse, schirrhosus, Gymnae- 

 tron Beccabunga3, and Grypidius Equiseti : these and many 

 other good Coleoptera have 1 found there. Clumps of rushes 

 grow here and there along the banks of the ditches, and I 

 had sat down close to a clump, when my attention was 

 attracted by numerous small dome-shaped nests of white 

 silk : these I noticed were principally attached to the clus- 

 ters of seeds which grew towards the top of the rushes. 

 Numerous sheep were grazing about the spot, and close to 

 the clump of rushes that grew about a yard from the spot 

 where I was sitting a little heap of dung was deposited ; this 

 of course attracted certain species ot Diptera. Suddenly 

 I observed a spider drop from one of the dome-shaped nests j 

 down he dropped like a pebble on to the little heap of 

 sheep's dung : the spider had caught a fly. This was a mode 

 of capture 1 had never before witnessed ; I admired it ex- 

 ceedingly, but my astonishment was increased twentyfold on 

 seeing him, exactly like one of those balls attached to an 



