253 

 THE SPIDERS OF YORKSHIRE. 



WM. FALCONER, 

 Slaithwaite, Huddersfield. 



{Continued from page igi). 



V.C. 65., has been very little worked, the few records which 

 have accrued being the result of visits paid by the Yorkshire 

 Naturalists' Union. 



The captures made in recent years by naturalists in the 

 county have been noted from 1901 onwards, at first infrequently 

 but since 1908 more commonly, in The Naturalist and the 

 transactions of certain societies. For all these the bibliography 

 on p. 257 should be consulted. 



Of the 579 species which are known to inhabit the British 

 Isles, 320 have up to the present time been found in Yorkshire. 

 Tabulating them according to different areas, the E. Riding 

 (V.C. 61) has 237 ; the N. Riding 244 (V.C. 62-243, V.C. 65-67) 

 and the W. i Riding 274 (V.C. 63-240, V.C. 64-234). Much, 

 however, still lemains to be done before the total spider popu- 

 lation of the county and its distribution can be ascertained. A 

 great deal of its area (and that the most promising) is still in 

 an arachnological sense virgin ground. Its large size, diversi- 

 fied surface, varied geological formation, extensive wild uncul- 

 tivated districts and heather clad tracts, woods, commons and 

 long seacoast present a vast variety of habitats, ranging from 

 high hills to the sea level, each contributing its quota ol 

 forms peculiar to itself, so that search anywhere, especially 

 on the littoral and higher altitudes, would probably result in 

 additions to the present list, some possibly new even to science 

 or to Britain. The best results, however, are to be obtained 

 in one's own neighbourhood, familiarity with the surface 

 features of a district being an essential element of success by 

 directing the attention to those special circumstances of envir- 

 onment, in which alone so many of our spiders can be found. 



It has already been seen that the number of rarities in the 

 county is very large, and at the time of their capture the 

 following were : — 



(i) New to Science and still peculiar to Yorkshire — Clubiona 

 facilis Camb. (F. Rhodes) ; Maro mimttus Camb., M. humicola 

 Falcr. 



(2) New to Science — Micrypkantes beatiis Camb.. Maro falconerii 

 Jacks., Eboria caliginosa Falcr. 



(3) New to the British Isles — Erigone spinosa Camb. (T. 

 Stainforth), Hypselistes florens Camb., Notioscopus sarcinatus 

 Camb. (J. W. H. Harrison), Gongylidiellum paganum Sim., 

 Diplocephalus protuberans Camb., 5- 



(4) Unnamed and Undescribed — Oreontides firmus Camb. (taken 

 about same time in Northumberland), Diplocentria rivalis 

 Camb. (some months before in Staffordshire), by Dr. Jackson. 



(5) Unrecorded as British — Tapinocyba insecta L. Koch (pre- 

 viously taken in Northumberland by Dr. Jackson). 



1918 Aug. 1. 



