THE SPIDERS OF THE TYNE VALLEY. 339 



consists chiefly of the Bernician series of grits and limestones. 

 Hence there are no great elevations and no deeply cut valleys. 

 There are no rugged mountains and no precipitous chasms. 

 The formation also affiscts the character of the vegetation, and 

 secondarily of the fauna. Again, the land is very largely under 

 cultivation. Therefore there are in the immediate neighbour- 

 hood of Hexham no great morasses and no elevated moors. 

 Incidentally, the coast line is a long way off. The bulk of the 

 county of Northumberland is sparsely populated, and not well 

 cultivated, and very satisfactory bogs and moors exist at some 

 little distance. However, with the exception of a few hours 

 on Blanchland Common, I have been unable to reach them. 

 It is quite certain that when these inland wastes and the 

 coastline have been worked out, our list of Northumbrian 

 spiders will be much longer. 



My district was thus small, and the ground was very 

 similar throughout it. Furthermore I had little opportunity, 

 of travelling about, and of exploring fresh localities. As a 

 set off against these disadvantages is the fact that I did 

 a little work on nearly every day throughout the year for 

 three consecutive years. By these means one can obtain a 

 fair idea of the fauna of a restricted locality. The district 

 may be divided into several varieties of ground, according to 

 its nature and soil. Firstly, there are the woods. These are 

 .very extensive in the neighbourhood of Hexham. The 

 Swallowship wood for instance is some miles in circumference. 

 In places it consists of conifers planted close together, their 

 straight rosy trunks looking in the distance like the columns 

 of some vast cathedral. Amongst the boles of the larches 

 and firs rise the huge dome-shaped nests of the wood ants. 

 These are composed of the fragrant pine-needles which thickly 

 carpet the ground in the shade of the stately trees. In places 

 more open are bushes of overgrown heather, their roots deeply 

 sunk in green moss, and wrapped about with fallen leaves. 

 Deep ditches intersect these woods. Their banks are bosky 

 with ferns, heather, and other plants, which overhang and dip 

 into the leisurely running or stagnant water. Some clearings 



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