( xlix ) 



books. In one, the 'Manuel du Naturaliste,' published in 

 1771, he found it stated that spiders devour one another, 

 and that they would eat the soft substance of new feathers. 

 In another work ('Histoire des Insectes utiles a THomme, 

 aux Animaux et aux Arts,' 1785), the author, treating the 

 question of the usefulness of spiders, quotes Eeaumur as 

 haviug indicated pigeons' feathers as the food for young 

 spiders. Mons. J. Fallou, possessed of this information, gave 

 pigeons' feathers to his young spiders, but they refused 

 to suck the feathers. The spiders in the meantime looked 

 remarkably healthy, although their number seemed to de- 

 crease. In the middle of August, my colleague resolved to 

 divide the spiders into two lots, leaving one lot in the 

 " bocal," and placing the other lot on a rock in his garden, 

 the rock being surrounded by water and various shrubs and 

 plants. This appeared to be a favourable spot for the open- 

 air rearing of the Epeira. Threads 30 centimetres (about one 

 foot) long were spun from the rock to the stems of the plants, 

 and the spinners retired into the cavities of the rock. But, 

 about the end of August, threads or webs and spinners were 

 no longer to be seen. Had the birds or lizards been feasting 

 upon the spiders ? Had the ants driven them away ? Or 

 were the little spiders going to hybernate in the cavities of 

 the rock ? That is what my colleague was going to ascertain 

 in the following spring. With respect to those which were in 

 the ''bocal," some had slightly increased in size and changed 

 skins, but the number diminished so rapidly that at the end 

 of November not one was left alive. In s2Jite of this failure, 

 Mons. Fallou hopes to be able to renew the experiments, and to 

 succeed in ascertaining whether or not this useful spider can 

 be reared and acclimatised in his locality, which is at a short 

 distance from Paris. Mons. Wailly said that Mons. Fallou's 

 report, "Essai sur racclimatation d'une espece d'Araueide" 

 had appeared in the ' Bulletin ' of the Societe d'Acclimatation, 

 No. 18, Sept. 20th, 1889. 



Mr. H. Goss read a communication received by him from Prof. 

 S. H. Scudder, of Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A., on the subject of 

 his recent discoveries of some thousands of fossil insects, chiefly 

 Coleoptera, in Florissant, Western Colorado, and Wyoming. 



