GENERAL NOTES. 213 
teeth. The Curator inspected all other caves in the district, but 
found only two, on the Nanima Estate, 6 miles east of Wellington, 
which showed any good signs of bones.” The exploration of the 
Richmond River (undertaken by one of the assistants) resulted in 
the discovery of some new and interesting species of fish, but ‘‘ no 
fishes in any way allied to the Ganoidei, Sirenoidei, or Dipnoi 
were found.” Ep. 
HIABITAT OF SAaPRINUS PEpaAToR.—I noticed, on reading Capt. 
Broun’s paper on the Histevide in your last issue, that he seems to 
have found all his specimens of Saprinus pedatoy above ground. 
The six obtained by me at Cape Saunders were amongst very 
much decayed kelp some eight or nine inches below the surface. 
They were all taken at one spot, and though several of the 
neighbouring beaches were searched no others were found, nor 
have I been able to discover any on the beaches near Dunedin. 
TuHos. CHALMER. 
CLASPING ORGANS IN MALE SPIDER AND Mites.—Mr. W. F. 
Howlett has forwarded from Waipawa, Hawke’s Bay, a male 
specimen of Macrothele huttonit (a spider described and figured by 
the Rev. O. P. Cambridge in the‘ N.Z. Inst. Trans,, vol. vi., p. 200) 
and he suggests that the great development of the tibiz and meta- 
tarsi of the first pair of legs is to enable the male to seize and hold 
the female. The latter is described by Mr. Cambridge as being 
larger than the male, but wanting the above abnormal develop- 
ment. A comparison of the figures in the volume referred to (pl. 
vi., figs. 10 and 17) showing the normal structure of the legs of 
first pair, and also the structure in Macvothele, certainly bears out 
Mr. Howlett’s idea. Hitherto, as far as is known, no such peculiar 
modification of structure among the males has been observed 
among spiders, though familiar enough in many other animals. 
Mr. Howlett also statesthat a similar structure is to be found in a 
mite (Acarus sp.?) which infects Tuis. This observation we also 
believe to be new for the Acarida. 
A Marine Cappis-wormM.—Last year Professor Hutton collected 
in Lyttelton Harbour several specimens of a Trichopterous larva 
living among the corallines that grow in rock pools between tide 
marks, the case of the larva being composed of fragments of the 
corallines. After several failures to hatch these larva out, he 
succeeded in obtaining a pupa from which the insect was ready to 
emerge, but this was dead and in a fragmentary condition. This 
pupa and some larve were sent to the well-known entomologist, 
Mr. R. McLauchlan, of 39, Limes Grove, Lewisham, London, 
who has determined the insect to be Philanisus plebejus, Walker, a 
species previously known to inhabit New Zealand. Thisis the 
only known marine Caddis-worm; it has been described to the 
Linnean Society of London by Mr. McLauchlan. 
On PaTELLA SOLANDRI, CoLENSO.—On page 168 of the four- 
teenth volume of the ‘‘ Transactions ofthe New Zealand Institute, 
just published, will be found a paper by Mr. Colenso on ‘“ Two 
