CASE OF PAETHENO GENESIS IN THE HOTTSE-SPIDEB. 537 



as high as her spinnerets could reach, from the side to the bottom 

 o£ the bottle. Each thread enabled her to carry another still 

 higher, until in about six weeks, always working at night, she 

 reached the shoulder. By that time the sides were speckled with 

 attachments, there being as many as seventy in one square 

 half inch. Her home soon became utterly unlike the well-known 

 cob of this species, consisting as it did of a cube of confused 

 cross threads, which were frequently broken by the insects given 

 her, and her energetic pursuit of them. She often was quite at 

 a loss as to the direction in which her prey had settled, as 

 might be expected from her inexperienced use of a net which 

 was specially adapted to her new condition of life. Sometimes 

 during an exciting chase, when at the bottom of the bottle, 

 she would move her whole body from side to side in a slanting 

 position, evidently making the best use of her sight. She would 

 then make a dash to strike at her object with her front legs ; and 

 her spinnerets would be widely separated, trailing threads at 

 each movement of the abdomen. Spiders live long without food ; 

 and I was careful not to overfeed. Her usual allowance was 

 a blow-fly every second or third day, and an occasional daddy-long- 

 legs when in season. During the winter she sometimes fasted for 

 a week ; for the relays of flies which I had to rear did not always 

 follow. Prom February 1882 I fed her more regularly. 



The habits of the females of this species, spending, as they do, 

 a comparatively sedentary life in dry places, renders it difficult to 

 see how they can obtain water, except during their occasional 

 excursions ; yet a frequent supply or a damp atmosphere is neces- 

 sary to many Spiders. I have kept a T. Guyonii $ 27 months 

 without any liquid except that which she derived from insects. 

 In the case I am detailing, it was, however, required. In 

 December, after six weeks' absence, I found the Spider lying 

 helpless at the bottom of the bottle, vnth her legs drawn 

 close to her body ; I immediately filled a tube with water, 

 and dropped some on her back and in front of her. She 

 quicldy balanced herself, and wetting the last joints of her palpi, 

 placed them on her maxillae. This she did five times, when she 

 advanced, and lowered her whole body so that the maxillse 

 were dipped in the water. Thus she remained apparently 

 motionless for a few seconds, when she raised herself to her nor- 

 mal position, and repeated the draught after an interval of a few 

 minutes. Shortly afterwards she mounted to her usual roost 

 at the shoulder of the bottle, with her abdomen considerably 

 distended. On removing the glass cover a few days later, I 



