48 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 
Drawing of a Spider's Nest.—The Secretary read a letter 
he had received from Mr. Ogier Ward, enclosing a drawing 
of a spider’s nest, with some remarks thereon by Mr. Charles 
O. Waterhouse. Mr. Ward had found the nest attached to 
some long grass in a quarry, near Poissy, on the Seine. 
Mr. Waterhouse, on examination, found it to be nearly filled 
with sand, but in the centre he found “a dry, rough, flat 
piece” attached to the base, which, on soaking in water for 
some hours, he discovered to be filled with a number of 
minute spiders, measuring one-twelfth of an inch. The 
granules of sand were held together and to the inner-bag by 
fine threads of web. He believed the object of the sand was 
to prevent the case being blown away, but he was not aware 
to what species the nest appertained. 
Novemberj16, 1874.—J. W. Dunning, Esq., M.A., F.LS., 
Vice-President, in the chair. 
Drawing of a Spider's Nest.—The Rev. O. Pickard Cam- 
bridge sent a note on the curious spider’s nest exhibited at 
the last meeting. It was unknown to him; and had it not 
been for a remark in Mr. Ward’s letter, implying that the nest 
he found belonged to a symmetrical (geometrical) web, he 
should have conjectured that it was the work of an Agelena. 
If, however, the nest was appurtenant to a symmetrical web 
it must belong to a spider of the family Epéirides. He did 
not think the sand in the nest was at all designed as ballast, 
but as a protection against the heat of the sun (sand being a 
non-conductor), and also against parasites. Mr. Smith 
remarked that the mud-coating of the nest of Agelena 
brunnea did not preserve that species from parasites, as he 
had often bred a species of Pezomachus from the nests, and 
he believed, in those instances, the spider's eggs had been 
attacked before the mud-coating was added. 
Rare British Coleoptera.—Mr. Champion exhibited some 
rare species of British Coleoptera, namely:—Apion Ryei, 
taken by Mr. Lilley in Shetland; Abdera triguttata, from 
Avienda, Inverness-shire; Limexylon navale, taken by 
Messrs. Sidebotham and Chappell at Dunham Park, Man- 
chester; Athous subfuscus, taken by the Rev. T. Blackburn 
in Shetland; and Apion sanguineum and Silvanus similis 
from Esher. 
i 
