436 ON SOME RABE ARACiSNlDS 



Singa sanguinea (C. L. Koch). A pair swept from 

 heather in the New Forest, and an adult male a day or 

 two later on Bloxworth Heath. 



Singa hamata (Clerck). A colony amongst long heather 

 growing in a swamp in the New Forest. 



Cercidia prominens (Westr.). Two females amongst 

 low herbage at Cudham, Kent, on May 31st. 



Mangora acalypha (Westr.). Swept from heather at 

 Burnham Beeches, Hayes (Kent), New Forest, and Blox- 

 worth. 



Araneus angulatus (Clerck). New Forest, May. No 

 adults were, however, found. 



Araneus dioideus (Walck.). Not rare in the New Forest 

 and Dorset. A female was also sent to me from Ross in 

 Herefordshire. 



Theridiosoma argenteolum (Camb.). I found this little 

 spider in the New Forest, and at Morden Park near 

 Bloxworth. It spins a beautiful little geometric snare, as 

 described by McCook* for a similar (or identical) species. 

 The spider inhabits swampy ground, or damp ditches, 

 and the snare is placed very near the ground, or even in 

 depressions such as the footprints of cattle. The angle 

 of the snare may vary from the vertical to the horizontal 

 positions. A guide line leaves the centre of the snare 

 and runs to some fixed point outside it. By pulling on 

 this the spider is able to convert the snare from a plane 

 surface into a conical cul-de-sac, and according to 

 McCook the American species entangles its partly 

 trapped prey by letting go suddenly after the manner of 

 Hyptiotes. This act I did not observe myself, and in 

 fact observations having to be made kneeling or lying in 

 an inch or two of water are not very easy. The spider 

 may be found either outside its snare on the guide line, 

 or seated in the centre of the circular web. Both s^yj&s 



* American Spiders and their Spinning Work, vol. i., pp. 195-207. 



