420 Mr. F. Enock on the 



patience too. On December 27th, 1884, I examined a 

 large female AUjpus under my microscope with a power 

 of about 40 diameters, and just in the folds of the joint 

 of the legs where the covering is very thin I could see 

 most distinctly the circulation of the vital fluid, and 

 counted twelve to thirteen beats per minute ; this I 

 observed from twenty to thirty times, my nephew con- 

 firming my observation a dozen times. 



To enable me to form a correct idea of the progress 

 made by a spider in a given time, I have filled a deep 

 bell-glass with laj^ers one inch deep of black, white, and 

 yellow sand. In this will be placed some young Atypi, 

 which will commence their tubes on black sand. As 

 soon as white sand is thrown out I shall know the spider 

 has gone down one inch in a certain time, and so on, 

 carefully noting down date as each successive colour is 

 reached ; and in course of some years I hope to solve 

 the only facts about which I am in doubt, viz., how long 

 it is before the male and female reach maturity, and 

 how long the female lives. 



Since putting my notes into order I have made one 

 other observation upon the young which emerged on 

 February 3rd, 1885. Many of them have now formed 

 very delicate tubes, attaching the aerial portion to the 

 sides of the pot. On April 24th I caught a small Pha- 

 langinm ('? sp.), and holding it by its legs I touched one 

 of the tubes with it, but without any notice being taken. 

 I tried another upright one ; the tiny spider came up 

 directly, striking in the same manner and with as much 

 precision as its mother, the fangs penetrating the body 

 of the Phalangium, which was drawn through and down 

 out of sight in less than five minutes. This is the first 

 meal taken by any of the brood. Next day the spider 

 was very busy excavating, throwing out quite a quantity 

 of sand. 



In bringing my notes to a conclusion, I think I cannot 

 do better than just recall one fact in tlie history of this 

 interesting spider — that when the^^r.s-^ young one emerges 

 from the tube it takes an upward course, leaving behind 

 it a silken cord, which is taken hold of and added to by 

 each one as they emerge and follow on. Cannot we 

 follow their example by adding our small amount of 

 knowledge, and so make the pathway stronger and easier 

 for our fellow-students who may come after us ? 



