NOTES ON A COLLECTION OF SPIDERS, WITH 



A LIST OF SPECIES TAKEN IN THE 



NEIGHBOURHOOD OF CAMBRIDGE. 



BY 



C. WARBURTON, 



Christ's College. 



All attempts to preserve spiders in the dry state have hitherto 

 proved ineffectual. 



When put up in alcohol, the specimens must either be mounted 

 in some way, and certain specific characteristics concealed, or 

 allowed to lie loosely in tubes, and to present a distorted and 

 unsightly appearance. 



For the purposes of exhibition, the former alternative seems 

 preferable, especially if care be taken to minimise as far as possible 

 its disadvantages. 



A simple but effective method of mounting specimens is here 

 described, as likely to prove useful to collectors in this and 

 other groups, where no satisfactory dry method of preservation is 

 available. 



A specimen tube is filled about one-third full of plaster of 

 Paris powder. Water is added, and the tube corked and shaken, 

 and then laid lengthwise upon a horizontal surface. When the 

 plaster is set, the block is slipped out, smoothed if necessary, and 

 the specimen mounted upon its flat surface with strong gum or 

 " liquid glue " — a substance not dissolved by alcohol. 



When replaced, the block of course fits its mould, and cannot 

 crush the specimen, as the width of its flat surface is nearly the 

 diameter of the tube. It moreover affords a white back-ground 

 which is not liable to much discolouration. It is often convenient 

 to mount male and female of a species in the same tube. 



The tubes are then labelled and exposed on tiers of shelves, 

 inclined at a small angle to the perpendicular. 



Thus arranged, the specimens bear some resemblance to the 

 living species they typify, and present as sightly an appearance 

 as the difficulties of the case will admit. 



11 



