196 Transactions. — Zoology. 



perfect even in this mode of caj^ture. It is often impossible to capture minute 

 spiders quickly without wetting the finger and laying it lightly upon them. 

 The spider adheres for an instant, during which the finger is applied to the 

 open mouth of a bottle of spix'its carried in the pocket, and the spider is at 

 once immersed. When a spider is seized in the fingers it should always be an 

 endeavour to get hold of it Jby at least two legs, for one leg would most 

 pi'obably be thrown off by the muscular power which spiders can exert at will, 

 provided they have sufficient free motion. Collectors often complain of the 

 brittleness of spiders' legs, but in most cases it results from the instinct of self- 

 preservation, which teaches the spider to give up something rather than lose 

 all. I have seldom found that spiders can throw off their limbs if held by two 

 of them at once. An easy and good way of capturing spiders at rest is with a 

 pill-box ; the bottom in one hand and the lid in the other encloses them 

 quickly and safely ; for spiders running on the ground, or on walls or trunks 

 of trees, an ordinary entomological hoop-net is most useful. The net is placed 

 (if on the ground) in front of the spider, and with the disengaged hand it is 

 easily guided or driven into the net, whence it must be boxed into a pill-box, 

 like an insect. If the spider is on a wall (no easy place to capture a spider by 

 any other means) the net is held underneath, and then with a twig in the 

 other hand it is dexterously jerked or flipped ofi* into the net. The moment a 

 spider is seen on a wall, or tree trunk, or other similar situation, the net should 

 immediately be placed beneath it, as many spiders drop oflf the instant that 

 danger even approaches, and would probably be lost entirely if there were 

 bushes or herbage, or rocky and broken ground below. The hoop-net is also 

 most useful for beating bushes and boughs of trees into ; but perhaps for this 

 purpose, and for shaking moss, cut gi-ass, and debris into, nothing is superior, 

 or in fact equal, to a very large common (but strong) cotton umbrella — a 

 regular Sarah Gamp. The hoop-net is, however, the best for sweeping amongst 

 long grass, rushes, or herbage of every kind, for upon such spiders usually 

 abound. Spiders which spin a geometric web very often live in it, or close by, 

 and yet can seldom be secured unless as a preliminary the net or umbrella be 

 placed well underneath before the examination of the web is begun, but by 

 taking this precaution the tenant usually drops in and is secui^ed at once. 



According to some or other then of the above modes of capture, the spiders 

 will be safely secured in pill-boxes of various sizes — but never more than one 

 spider in a box, for obvious reasons ; a drop or two of chloroform, allowed to 

 run inside the very slightly opened lid, stupefies the inmate in a few moments, 

 when it may be minutely examined, its colours noted, etc., etc., and then 

 dropped into the wide mouthed bottle of spirit of wine carried in the pocket 

 or tied to the button-hole by a short string. To preserve an accurate record 

 of localities, etc., it is perhaps advisable to write a memorandum in pencil on 



