3676 Arachnida. 



— so much so, in fact, that in a copy of my notes, transmitted to the 

 Zoological Society at the request of the Secretary, I thought it right 

 to praise him. I seldom visited the Gardens but he had some intelli- 

 gence respecting the habits and peculiarities of the reptiles to com- 

 municate ; and for the sake of science, whose interests his observative 

 habits would in some degree have promoted, as well as from a feeling 

 of humanity, I lament his premature death. He has left a wife, as I 

 am informed, totally unprovided for ; and I hope that, as she is de- 

 serving of sympathy, she will receive assistance both from the Zoolo- 

 gical Society and the public. The indiscretion of her husband was 

 her misfortune, not her fault ; and he atoned for it by a sudden and 

 a fearful death. Daniel T. Evans. 



5, Elm-court, Temple, November 1. 



[This article was published in ' The Times ' newspaper of November 9, 1852. 

 Ed. ZooL] 



On the Method of Preserving Spiders, tyc. By R. FT. Meade, Esq. 



Among the many interesting observations on various animals given 

 in the ' Zoologist,' few are to be found concerning the Arachnida, or 

 spiders. The reader neither meets with critical remarks on their ge- 

 nera and species, notices of the capture of rare specimens, nor, with a 

 few exceptions, any observations on their habits and economy.* This 

 neglect cannot be ascribed to their being deficient in interest, as the 

 spiders must be classed among our most ingenious and sagacious ani- 

 mals ; but it shows that very little attention is bestowed upon them 

 by British naturalists. There maybe several reasons for this neglect, 

 and among others, the great difficulty attending the determination of 

 species may be mentioned, arising from the close resemblance between 

 allied species, and the want of good books on the subject ; f but the 

 chief reason, I believe to be the difficulty of preserving specimens. I 



* A brief anecdote of a hunting spider, probably the Salticus scenicus, by Mr. 

 Guyon, will be found in a previous page, (Zool. 3600). 



f The only systematic work that attempts to give a complete description of the 

 species of the Arachnid.*, is Walckenaer's ' Histoire Naturelle des Insectes Apteres ; ' 

 but this does not comprise more than about two thirds of the already named British 

 species, accounts of which from the pen of Mr. Blackwall will be found in the 'Trans- 

 actions of the Linnean Society,' in his 'Researches on Zoology,' and scattered through 

 diflerent scientific periodicals. I hope we shall soon see a complete work by this gen- 

 tleman, on the British spiders. 



