CaMBRIDGE.—On the Spiders of New Zealand. 199 
with spirit, making it impossible for that in the tubes to evaporate until the 
whole of that in the bottle has evaporated, which, if the glass-stopper fits 
pretty well, will not be for several years. In each tube two or more specimens 
—maleand female—may be placed, one above the other, according to the 
length of the tube, and some specimens are placed so as to shew the upper, and 
others to shew the under-side. When bottles so filled are arranged on narrow 
shelves not too far from the eye, they have a very neat appearance, and allow 
the spiders to be seen through the two glasses easily and perfectly—of course, 
the bottle must be taken in hand to examine the contents at all closely, and 
must be turned round to bring those spiders on the opposite side into view. 
For critical purposes, any tube may be taken out, and the spiders themselves 
removed from the tube without injury or difficulty, and as easily replaced ; it 
is only necessary to use a pair of fine pliers with which to handle the specimens, 
and a pair of longer and larger ones, with oval cork or silk-padded points, with 
which to put in the tubes or remove them from the bottles. The label with 
the spider’s name on it can be easily read through both the tube and bottle, if 
put in so as to coil closely round the inside of the former, which is, with very 
little practice, a simple matter to effect. The advantage of having the label 
inside is obvious ; for it cannot then be rubbed off by external friction, and it 
can be removed and replaced at pleasure, 
After many trials of different ways of managing test-tubes of spirit in 
which spiders have been placed, I can at last pronounce the above plan to be 
almost entirely satisfactory. When stopped with corks, and laid or kept 
upright in drawers, the spirit was .quickly and constantly evaporating, 
requiring frequent re-filling ; besides which, the corks soon became rotten with 
the action of the spirit, and not only allowed that in the tube to evaporate, 
but also, often breaking in removal, caused considerable trouble, and some- 
times damage to the specimens, in getting out the portion left in the tube. 
Another evil has also vanished by the use of wool pledgets instead of corks, 
and that is, the occasionally serious cuts to the fingers from the sudden 
breakage of the tubes in corking. As the greater part of my own collection 
is intended for purely scientific purposes, I only take the trouble to set out 
here and there a specimen for the delectation of unscientific or “ goodness 
gracious" friends ; for when set out they occupy, of course, far more space in 
a tube than when put in just as they happen to come out from the effects of 
the chloroform or other stupefying agent. А single tube will often thus 
contain up to twenty or more examples unset, but never more that one species 
in a tube, and often only one sex. Im all eases the name of the species, or a 
number written on parchment, should be placed in each tube, as above 
described. Glass-stoppered bottles, containing inverted wool-stopped tubes of 
unset spiders, may be filled quite full of the tubes, since there is no object in 
