xxxvi The Life of the Spider 



this, I have, as far as possible, simphfied the 

 scientific terms that occur in the text. In so 

 doing, I know that I have but followed the wishes 

 of the author, who never wearies of protesting 

 against * the barbarous terminology ' favoured 

 by his brother-naturalists. The matter became 

 even more urgent in English than it would be 

 in any of the Latin languages ; and I readily 

 agreed when it was pointed out to me that, in a 

 work essentially intended for general reading, 

 there was no purpose in speaking of a Coleop- 

 teron when the word * beetle ' was to hand. In 

 cases where an insect had inevitably to be 

 mentioned by its Greek or Latin name, a note is 

 appended explaining, in the fewest words, the 

 nature of the insect in question. 



I have to thank my friend M. Maurice Maeter- 

 linck for the stately preface which he has con- 

 tributed to this volume and Mr. Marmaduke 

 Langdale and Miss Frances Rodwell, for the 

 generous assistance which they have given me 

 in the details of my work. 



Alexander Teixeira de Mattos. 



Chelsea, io October 1912. 



