BRITISH SPIDERS. 



75 



CASE captivity till the commencement of winter, when, on the tem- 

 perature of the room in which it was kept becoming much 

 reduced, it entered the cell and remained there in a state of 

 torpidity with its head downwards. A gentleman on a visit at 

 the house, whose curiosity to examine the spider minutely in its 

 hibernaculum was greater than his prudence, inclined the glass 

 so much that the air escaped from the cell, the water flowed 

 in, and before information of the circumstance was given the 

 domiant spider had perished. The spider feeds upon any insects 

 it can catch, whether water or land species \ and whether she gets 

 them on shore or not she generally carries them into her cell to 

 suck their juices there. 



Amaurobius ferox {Walck.)^ Ciniflo ferox, Bl.—\^. Enlarged sketch. 



Pale brown; abdomen darker, with pale pattern on its 

 back. 



The web of this species, and of three or four others, considered 

 by some a distinct family, under 

 the name of Ciniflonidae, is pecu- 

 liar. It escaped notice for long, 

 for it presents at first sight an 

 irregular, ragged, and generally 

 a dirty appearance, and might 

 easily be passed by with little 

 notice, as an old or deserted 

 web. Mr. Blackwall pointed out, 

 however, that even with the naked 

 eye it can be seen to differ 

 greatly from the webs of other 

 spiders, which — whether as in the 

 TheridiidcR they are a mass of 

 clear distinct lines ; or, as in the 

 AgelenidcB, of a close even texture; 

 or, as in the Epeiridce, open nets, constructed on a regular plan- 



Ciiiiflo ferox (twice magnified). 



