194 Dr. Ileineken's Entomologiml A^otkes. 



have had an overweening stock of " curiosity to satisfy," or that he was 

 somewhat of a novice in the "art of love;" for although I have never 

 succeeded in detecting a pair in the rapturous embrace, yet I have con- 

 stantly found males dead in the morning which had been introduced into 

 the same cages with females over night. In one instance last summer I 

 found a pair, fEpeira Cacti,) on opposite sides of the same web, but 

 within a iew inches of each other; after waiting until my patience was 

 exhausted, I removed them into a large jar containing the branch of a 

 plant: in the morning a h'nd leg was all which the unfortunate swain 

 had left, to " prate of his whereabout !" About the same time, a male 

 and female Epeira calophylla, in separate cells on the same orange leaf, 

 were confined in the same manner; theirs turned out a complete Char- 

 lotte and Werter affair ; she was dead and he survived her but an hour ! 

 However, to be serious. I am aware that being in confinement not one 

 of my experiments on this head is worth any thing. The matter is still 

 subjadice, and can only be set at rest by that most useful of all classes of 

 naturalists, the out of door one. From a number of experiments which 

 it would be tiresome and needless to detail, and which are but of very 

 moderate value from ill health having obliged me to make them upon 

 individuals in confinement, it appears, 1st. That all young Spiders can, 

 and that many even in a state of nature probably do, live for the first 

 fortnight without nourishment. 2ndly. That they all combine, and act 

 in unison and harmony for a certain period, whether confined or at large, 

 this law applying even to diff'erent species when confined together. 

 3rdly. That mothers during this period respect the lives, not only of their 

 own progeny, but of that of others. 4thly. That afterwards a helium 

 internecinum without regard to age or relationship is waged; and 5thly. 

 That although the settling of preliminaries may be indefinitely prolonged, 

 yet that the act once accomplished, the truce is ipso facto at an end, and 

 " sauve qui pent" is the termination of their amours. 



Having opened the " Introduction to Entomology," (a book which it 

 is not always easy to close again) I see that at page 56 of the same volume 

 and edition, the authors, in their enthusiasm to answer the " objections 

 ** to Entomology," have rather unwittingly armed against themselves a 



