374 THE SPIDERS OF THE TYNE VALLEY. 



Entelecara Thorellii (Westr.). Rare, but occasionally 

 found amongst short moss growing in pastures. It was 

 found in several places separated by some miles from each 

 other. All were near Hexham. Only four British speci- 

 mens were previously on record. One from Southport in 

 Lancashire, a pair from county Dublin, and one from 

 Edinburgh. Nearly forty years separated the first and 

 the second British records. It occurs also in France, 

 Germany, and Sweden. Adult in May. 



Thyreosthenius biovatus (Camb.). This interesting 

 spider inhabits the large dome-like nests of the wood ant 

 Formica rtifa. The nests are frequently to be seen 

 among the trunks of the conifers in the woods of 

 Northumberland. They are chiefly composed of pine- 

 needles. The spiders are found in the interior of the 

 nests living among the ants. They are collected by 

 taking up handfuls of the nest and throwing them on to 

 outspread newspapers. The material then must be 

 spread out with a stick and carefully inspected. Ants of 

 course are seen in thousands running in every direction, 

 and occasionally one of these little spiders is detected 

 amongst them. Females can be found throughout the 

 year, but I obtained very few adult males. Possibly they 

 leave the nest when mature, as immature examples are as 

 common there as the young females of the same genera- 

 tion. I never, however, succeeded in finding them outside 

 the nests of their hosts. The adult males found occurred 

 in May, June, and August, so that some of them are in 

 the nests throughout the summer. T. biovatus (Camb.) 

 appears to be always commensal with Formica rvfa. It 

 has occurred in Surrey and Sussex, as well as in France, 

 Germany, and Holland. Mr. Bagnall has recently sent 

 it to me from the neighbourhood of Winlaton. 



Evansia merens (Camb.). This is another myrmecophile. 

 It inhabits the nests of Formica fiisca in Tynedale and 

 Lasius iiii:;er in Glamorgan. It was discovered in Perth- 



