296 Miscellaneous. 



side of the boat into the sea. When disturbed, the medusae swam 

 about, like other medusse, with their tentacles below. 



Two specimens of this species that Mr. M'Andrew brought home, 

 preserved in spirits, have retained their shape, and are thicker and 

 much firmer than the commoner species of Medusae. 



I am not aware that the habit of lying on the back and expand- 

 ing the tentacles under water has been observed or recorded before. 



On the Reproduction of Pholcus phalangioides, Walclc. 

 By Dr. Paolo Bonizzi. 



The author placed a female of this species in a glass vessel ; it im- 

 mediately formed a web in the upper part of the vase, and the fol- 

 lowing day deposited its eggs. These were of a dirty white colour 

 with a rosy tinge ; their diameter was about 1 miUim. There were 

 more than twenty of them, and, as usual, they were not enclosed in 

 a cocoon, but adhered to each other by the stickiness of their sur- 

 face, and formed a somewhat spherical or ovoid mass. The female 

 carries the eggs suspended from the claws of the mandibles (cheli- 

 cera), and will not quit them even in the greatest peril. 



On a fly being introduced into the vessel, the female quitted the 

 eggs, which remained suspended by a thread attached to those of 

 the web. The author observed that the second and third pairs of 

 feet are employed by the animal to secure its prey, and to hold it 

 in a convenient position for sucking out its juices; the fourth pair 

 is employed to involve the prey rapidly in a thread. 



Towards the end of the time of incubation of the eggs, the spider 

 rotated the mass of eggs upon the suspending thread by means of 

 the second and third pairs of feet, and appeared to endeavour to break 

 their shells, touching each of them in turn with the mandibles. The 

 morning after this observation was made, some of the young were 

 hatched, but still remained adhering to the mass of ova ; in a few hours 

 they were found scattered over the web, and the empty shells had 

 fallen to the bottom of the vessel. The mother stood near the young, 

 below the space occupied by them ; and this the author has also ob- 

 served in free individuals. When some flies were introduced into the 

 vase, the mother imprisoned them in the usual manner, when the more 

 robust of the young animals ran to suck the insects thus prepared for 

 them. The time of incubation of these ova was nineteen days ; but 

 in other cases the author observed it to occupy only seventeen days. 



The author describes the nuptials of this species. He introduced 

 a male (which is much smaller than the female) into the glass with 

 the above-mentioned female ; the two animals remained immovable 

 for some time, and then the male approached the female very cau- 

 tiously. The male continued uneasy for a long time before uniting 

 with the female, and from time to time he trembled considerably. 

 The copulation lasted about an hour and a half ; and during this 

 time the animals appeared to be almost insensible to slight shocks 

 given to the vessel. At the conclusion of the copiilation, the male 

 rapidly quitted the female, and took up his position as far as pos- 

 sible from her, at the bottom of the vessel. — Annuorio della Soc. dei 

 Natural, in Modena, anno iii. pp. 179-181. 



