( Ixiii ) 



beetle looking extremely like the ant. The same occurred in 

 each heap which I searched. I then remembered having often 

 seen the beetle and ant together under the large stones which 

 lie by the path side in the walk to Henwood, on another part 

 of the same hill. This latter observation is of course well 

 known, but the former, seeming to show that the Staphylinids 

 accompany the ants outside the nest, was new to me." 



Professor Poulton observed that it was of great interest to 

 obtain all possible evidence of association between mimic and 

 model in the living state. 



Mr. R. Shelford communicated the following " Note on a 

 feeding experiment on the spider Nephila macidata!' 



Conclusions as to the relative tastefulness or distastefulness 

 of insects derived from feeding experiments that are carried 

 out with captive spiders or predatory insects must always be 

 unsatisfactory \ for the captives rendered ultra- ferocious by 

 a new-found imprisonment will seize and devour almost every- 

 thing in the nature of food that is offered to them, or else, 

 wearied with a long imprisonment, become too languid to eat 

 anything. I welcomed therefore an opportunity, that offered 

 some little time ago, to test the predilections of a large spider 

 living under perfectly natural conditions. In July 1902 I 

 encountered the web of Nephila maculata stretched across a 

 jungle path on Mt. Matang, in Sarawak, Borneo; occupying 

 the centre of the web was a fine female specimen of this 

 spider, and I employed two hours in catching examples of the 

 insects flying about near the web, in placing my captures in 

 the web and in noting down the behaviour of the spider. A 

 heavy thunderstorm then drove me to shelter and in a short 

 time totally wrecked the spider's web, so that the experiments 

 are by no means as complete as I could wish. However, so 

 far as they go, they are of some interest and appear worthy of 

 a permanent record ; they are set forth in tabular form here- 

 with, the numbers in brackets referring to the numbers of 

 specimens offered as food. 



