3* Notes on the Habits of Cyrtophora citricola. 



By W. H. Phelps. 



My claim to attention rests on my intimate acquaintance 

 with the individual specimens of the common spiders of Cal- 

 cutta, which I have been keeping under careful observation, 

 making accurate daily notes. 



I adopted a method of keeping the weavers under observa- 

 tion by using a kind of open cage. The accompanying figure 

 illustrates the kind of " cage " I used. 



For the first twelve months I was principally engaged on 

 Cyrtophora citricola, dealing with specimens which I had col- 

 lected in my garden. They being nocturnal and shy of artifi- 

 cial light, it was a year before I was fortunate enough actually 

 to see a snare made. Indeed it was not until I had reared 

 some of them that I got specimens that would work in the 

 light of an electric reading lamp. 



The markings of the body are different in different indivi- 

 duals, and the colour varies in the offspring of the same mother, 

 and in the same brood, from black to putty colour and there may 



