RANGE OF VISION IN SOME ARANEIDS. 655 
Observations.—With regard to this doubtful species Dr. Ramsay 
says itis “similar to P. sordidus, juv., but having the sides of 
neck and chest tinged with citrous-yellow.” Mr. G. A. Keart- 
land, at Derby, North-west Australia, shot a bird answering this 
description. He says, ‘‘ Whether another species or simply a 
variation in plumage I was unable to determine. It was being 
constantly attacked by the other Friar-birds which were numerous 
in the locality where it was shot.” 
No. 2.—NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS ON THE RANGE 
OF VISION IN SOME ARANEID.. 
By W. J. Rartnsow, Entomologist to the Australian Museum. 
(Read Monday, January 10, 1898.) 
ALTHOUGH a great deal of time and study has been.devoted by 
naturalists to working out the life-histories of the Araneidae, very 
little attention has been devoted to the question of range of vision. 
Among those who have treated upon the subject, the most note- 
worthy are Simon*, McCook+, Forel{, Bingley$, Plateau||, and Dr. 
and Mrs. Peckham]. Of these writers, Simon, McCook, and Peck- 
ham agree in declaring that the Citigrade and Saltigrade are 
possessed of good powers of sight, while Forel and Plateau contend 
that their vision is very bad. 
It is my intention, in the present paper, to give a résumé of a 
series of observations and experiments, made for the purpose of 
determining the distances at which objects are clearly discernible 
by some of our native species. 
In studying the question of range of vision, it will be conceded 
by those who have given the life-history of spiders any attention 
or consideration, that the groups most likely to yield important 
results are those whose existence depends upon their activity ; con- 
sequently, we are the most likely to find them among the Lateri- 
grade, Citigrade, and Saltigrade. None of these spiders fabri- 
cate snares for the capture of prey. The first of these groups, the 
* Histoire Naturelle des Araignées, Premiére Ed., p. 364. 
i Spiders of the United States, p. 57 ; and American Spiders and their Spinning Work, 
vol. ii, p. 286. 
t Sensations des Insects, Premiére Partie, Recueil Zoologique Suisse, T. iv, No.1, p. 41. 
§ Animal Biography, vol. iii, p. 455. 
|| Recherches Expérimentales sur la Vision chez les Arthropodes, Deuxieme partie. 
a Sense of Sight in Spiders, Trans. Wisconsin Acad. Sci. Arts, and Letters, vol. x, 
pp. 231-249. 
