GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AND STRUCTURE. 31 
desired position. A note to identify the species may be scratched upon 
this paper guidon. A cotton string will answer the same purpose in a 
small. field of Observation. Another method is to puncture a leaf with a 
pencil point, making a letter, figure, or symbol. The holes leave a dry 
border which easily identifies a particular spot for many days. 
Larger boxes should be placed in the satchel to be used for collecting 
cocoons and nests, The nests are often difficult to preserve, but some of 
them are so beautiful that they are well worth the effort. I 
Nests. usually take special boxes for this purpose, or when not so pro- 
vided, carry the nests free in my hand, or wrapped in little paper 
bags. Cotton should always be kept in the satchel, and when the nests are 
taken they should be carefully filled in with the cotton wool until the 
natural proportions are fully marked out. Of course, the leaves will 
rapidly dry up and wither and the nests will lose their form unless this 
precaution be taken. e 
In collecting spider nests, it will nearly always be necessary to cut away 
carefully a part of the adjoining foliage, in order to prevent the collapse 
of the whole when the supporting lines are cut. It is better 
to fill a nest with cotton before it is cut away from its site, 
or immediately thereafter. Tissue paper or even crushed 
leaves will answer where cotton is wanting. 
An ordinary pocket rule, a strong knife with a good, big 
blade for taking out ground spiders, should also go into the 
hand bag. Pencils, several of them, for one is apt to lose a 
pencil in the excitement of collecting unless it be tied to the rie. 19. A paper. 
neck or button; a hand lens for the satchel, and two or eons *. 
three others to carry in the pockets, are almost necessary. A 
good objective may be carried in a vest pocket, and will give ‘one an 
opportunity for rough microscopic observations while he is afield. Provide 
also a pair of shears for clipping off twigs and branches; and a few elastic 
bands for fastening the boxes whose covers are a little loose. 
For one who wishes to collect spiders without particularly observing 
the habits, a glass bottle or good sized glass tube filled with alcohol, is 
the chief requisite. If one is collecting Orbweavers or Line- 
Cabinet weavers, by placing the open bottle beneath the spider and 
Speci- : é 3 : 
Eas gently touching the creature, it will frequently drop into the 
alcohol, or the bottle can be placed rapidly beneath the spider, 
and with the sudden impulse to drop which is characteristic of it, it will 
fall directly into the alcohol. A cyanide bottle, such as is used by collectors 
of Lepidoptera may be used instead of alcohol. 
After the spiders have been collected in the bottle, they may be assorted 
and placed in separate tubes. No special method of mounting spiders can 
be satisfactorily recommended. I haye found nothing better for my own 
purposes than glass bottles, well corked, with a bit of paper inside to 
