Mollusksfyc. 1651 



Occurrence of Bulimus Lackhamensis and Dreissena polymorpha near Cheltenham. — 

 There are three localities for Bulimus Lackhamensis near Cheltenham : Cranham 

 wood, where last year I collected between seventy and eighty specimens ; Hailing 

 wood ; and beech trees on the north side of Lineover Hill. On the submerged tim- 

 bers of the third canal bridge from Gloucester, Dreissena polymorpha is found most 

 abundantly : I also noticed it, three years ago, on timber in the Ouse, near St. Neots', 

 Huntingdonshire, which shows that this foreign shell will probably one day become as 

 plentiful, in our navigable rivers and canals, as that veritable native Anodon Cygneus. 

 — Charles Prentice ; 1, Oxford Villas, Cheltenham. 



Enquiry respecting Gossamer -webs. — Would you have the kindness to explain to 

 me the cause of the gossamer-webs which are floating about in the air, and covering 

 the fields, and also the reason of their being found only in a frosty atmosphere ? Is it 

 possible that they can be the work of spiders ?— Henry Shepherd ; North Wales, Win- 

 chester, October 27th, 1846. 



[So much has been written on this subject, and with so little advantage to the en- 

 quirer, that I prefer referring my correspondent to Nature herself: the webs are un- 

 doubtedly the product of spiders, but their great elevation has never been satisfactorily 

 explained. — E. Neivman.'] 



Habits of a minute Spider. — Whilst walking on the South Downs, between the 

 villages of Piddinghoe and Rottingdean, in Sussex, I observed, on several branches 

 of gorse, that the extreme ends of the branches were covered with a thick web. This 

 web was studded with myriads of small scarlet spots, which, on closer examination, 

 proved to be insects in constant motion. I broke off a small branch, and placed it in 

 a tin collecting-box, to the sides of which the insects had, in a few hours, attached the 

 branch, by means of their web. On my return home, I transferred them, with the 

 piece of gorse, into a glass tumbler, in order to be able to watch their operations. In 

 the course of the two following days, they had fixed the branch to the sides of the 

 glass, and had filled the interior of the tumbler three parts full of web. The glass 

 was placed on a warm mantelpiece, about two yards from a south window, and the in- 

 sects principally carried on their operations on that side of the glass nearest the light. 

 The web was not very firmly attached to the glass, as a breath of air would displace 

 it. The height of the web increased most on the side of the glass facing the window, 

 and on turning the glass half round they gradually congregated on the opposite side, 

 leaving the seat of their former work for a situation nearer the light. During the day- 

 time, most of the insects were moving about at the sides of the glass, or on the top of 

 the web ; but at night they retired under the web, or between the web and the sides of 

 the glass, and were generally congregated rather thickly at that side of the tumbler 

 wnere they were last at work. Their operations were suspended soon after sunset, and 

 commenced again an hour after sunrise. At night, the presence of a strong light pro- 

 duced no sensible effect on them. On the third day, I observed on the sides of the 

 glass, and near the bottom, several small scarlet spots, about half the size of the in- 

 sects. Could this have been their excrement ? The following is a description of one 

 of the specimens : — body irregularly oval, breadth and thickness being each equal to 

 about half the length ; colour scarlet or pale blood-red, the head and legs being rather 

 paler than the other parts : abdomen with three (perhaps four) darker blood-red, trans- 



