440 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
ARACHNIDA. 
Asagena phalerata at Grasmere.—It may interest your readers to 
hear of a recent capture of Asagena phalerata. This spider is certainly 
not common in the North-west of England; it was recorded by Blackwall 
as rare in Denbighshire, and by Mr. Cambridge as rare in Dorset. 1 found 
a mature male on Aug. 3rd or 4th, at the top of Redbank, above Grasmere. 
Its habitat is said to be amongst heather and stones, but this specimen was 
in a patch of grass beneath a rock, and close to a tiny fine sheet of web. 
The grass was glistening with dew in the early morning sun, and several of 
these small snares sparkling with specks of moisture attracted my attention, 
but the spiders were easily lost in the herbage, and only one rewarded my 
search. The speciesis a very distinct one, and seen upon the ground might 
be mistaken for a small beetle at a hasty glance. The length is just three- 
sixteenths of an inch. The cephalo-thorax is a dark red-brown colour, 
broad behind, and quite narrow at the caput; it is slightly overhung by the 
flattened oval abdomen. This is a very deep black-brown, somewhat glossy ; 
on the fore part is a narrow yellowish white crescent mark, and half-way 
between this and the spinners on either side is a short vivid white line, 
slightly curving back, and in the centre just above the spinners is a longer 
bisected white line. The legs are short and strong, of the same colour as 
the cephalo-thorax, and are ringed with black at most of the joints. The 
palpi are short and thick, and the palpal organ a complicated knob.— Hunry 
W. Freston (Kersal, Manchester). 
Epeira diadema Courtship.—On Sept. 5th I made a close observation 
of the courtship of a fine pair of EHpeira diadema. Some days ago the ~ 
female spun a large web in a corner by my front door here, and on two 
mornings I had watched the efforts of a male to win her good graces. She 
fiercely repelled, however, all his advances. But on the morning of the 
5th her humour had changed. A male crept down. the wall until he 
reached a radius of the web. He cautiously advanced along this . while she 
hung motionless in the centre of the web. When he reached the orbicular 
lines he vibrated the web with his fore legs, and also waved these up and 
‘down several times; he then went back to the wall. This he repeated 
several times, till the female set off slowly towards him. He waited on the 
line by the wall till she came to the edge of the snare and poised herself 
upon the line on which he had travelled; she seemed to hang down 
attached by all her feet to the line. He then carefully approached on the 
upper side of the line, waving his fore legs slowly up and down; then he 
backed away, then advanced, always coming nearer at each repetition. At 
last he was actually waving his legs over her head, and still she did not 
move. It seemed as if he wished to mesmerize her, He ran back to the 
