xiii] (era *) 
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 Poutton 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 maculata.” 
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. 
