6494 Arachnid a. 



a few minutes. But, for myself, I prefer having a pocketful of small 

 pill-boxes, and in these taking home the specimens alive for examina- 

 tion before immersion; for the spirit sometimes gives a different cast 

 to the colours : a drop of chloroform renders the specimen quite quiet 

 for examination with a magnifying glass, and then if wanted for the 

 cabinet it is put into a tube, the tube filled with spirit and corked, 

 and the whole ceremony is done; while, if the specimen is not 

 wanted, it can be set free without any injury to itself. A small phial 

 of spirit should, however, always be carried in the pocket, for spiders 

 come across one at the most unlikely times ; and it is very annoying 

 to twist up a rare species in a piece of paper, and then to sit on it 

 accidentally ; and very unpleasant to pin the paper cocoon in your 

 hat, and have the " uncanny beastie" get loose and crawl among your 

 hair — both of which occurrences have several times happened to me. 



Class ARACHNIDA. 



Order Araneidea. — Tribe Octonoculina. 



Family Mygalidte. 



Atypus Sulzeri. A male adult taken in January, 1857, by my 



brother, while ferretting in a rabbit's earth at Bloxworth, Dorset; and 



another by one of my sisters in August, 1857, crossing the high road 



not far from where the first was taken. Up to this time, the male of 



this species had never been captured in Great Britain. Long silken 



tubes, which I believe must be the nests of this species, are very 



common at Portland, near Pennsylvania Castle ; but though 1 have 



dug many of them out entire, 1 could never discover the tenant either 



at home or abroad. 



Family Lycosid^e. 



Lycosa agretyca. Lyndhurst, Hants, and Bloxworth. 



L. campestris. Freshwater, Isle of Wight ; also near Bath, and at 

 Bloxworth. 



L. andreuivora. Common on heaths in the south of England 

 generally, and at Bloxworth especially ; also at Portland, but not so 

 common. 



L. rapax. Lyndhurst, Bloxworth, and Portland. 



L. picta. Common on Bloxworth Heath in old gravel pits ; less 

 frequent at Lyndhurst ; very numerous on Sandy Flat, by Chesil Bank, 

 Portland. 



