120 THE ENGLISH SPARROW IN AMrRICA. 



Arachnida. 



Spiders. — A number of spiders, represented mostly by the legs, were found in five 

 different stomachs, viz: Nos. 5532, 5533, 5537, 5545, and 5712. The remains of two 

 species could be identified. 



Lycosa scutellata in No. 5533. This spider belongs to the wandering spiders^ 

 the members of which do not make a silken web to catch their food, but capture it by 

 swiftness or by lying in ambush. It is quite abundant, frequenting fields, meadows, 

 and gardens, and hides either under a stone, piece of wood, or any kind of rubbish, or 

 dwells in holes made in the ground. As a general rule the female carries her egg-bag 

 with her, and the newly-hatched spiders crowd upon the back of their mother until 

 able to shift for themselves. 



Tarentula sp. occurred in No. 5532. This species has the same life history as the 

 Lycosa scutellata, and occurs abundantly in similar places. 



The habits of both are predaceous. 



SUMMARY FROM THE FOREGOING STATEMENTS. 



It thus appears that of the one hundred and two stomachs submitted, 

 ninety-two contained, besides grain, seeds, and gravel, the remains of 

 insects, i. e., ninety-two out of a total of five hundred and twenty-two 

 examined or seventeen and six-tenths per cent. Ten stomachs only of 

 those examined by me contained no insect remains. As a general rule 

 the amount of animal food was but small compared with the vegetal 

 food and gravel. 



All of the principal orders of Hexapoda are represented in the re- 

 mains recognized, as also some Arachnids, as follows : 



Stomachs. 



Hymenoptera 59 



Lepidoptera 8 



Hemiptera 6 



Diptera 2 



Stomachs. 



Neuroptera 3 



Orthoptera 9 



Coleoptera 53 



Arachnida ,.- 5 



All the insects found are species frequenting open lawns, garden s f 

 parks, and similar places, and almost always found upon or near the 

 ground. This maybe partly explained, however, by the fact that, as 

 Mr. Barrows informs me, more than five-sixths of the Sparrows which 

 contained insects were shot in the Department grounds. They are all 

 common and abundant and easily caught by the Sparrows whilst seek- 

 ing vegetal food in their usual haunts. 



The presence of a large amount of gravel, composed chiefly of such 

 hard material as quartzite, and the angular scales of hard-burned brick, 

 obtained from sidewalks, has the tendency to destroy the softer parts 

 of the insects. Various seeds, when partly digested, greatly resemble 

 the chitinons parts of insects > and are apt to mislead when imbedded in 

 the glutinous material derived from the ground-up portion of grains or 

 when covered by small particles of straw, which are always present, 

 and which in course of time become so transparent by constant grind- 

 ing and digestive action that they look like the wings of small insects. 

 Pieces of the discolored leaves of the Mullein ( Verbascum thapsus Linn.), 



