Ai achnida. 



8045 



fully- developed eye-stalk. Whether it is necessary or not that the 

 female should be such a far-seeing personage as the male, one can 

 only conjecture, but it is certain she never lifts her eyes as high as 

 her better half, being content to look out from a much less lofty 

 watch-tower. If this spider were of a roving nature we might see a 

 kind of advantage that it would have over its congeners by a larger 

 range of vision from such a disposition of the eyes, but as it is, as far 

 as 1 have observed it, chiefly a dweller under a damp stone, it is dif- 

 ficult to conceive but that this long stalk on its head must, in such a 

 situation, be rather in the way than otherwise. Perhaps such pecu- 

 liarities of form are only analogous to the male appendages of hair, 

 beard, &c, among animals of higher classes, and the highly-developed 

 tails, combs, wattles, &c, among birds. All these are generally con- 

 sidered to be merely ornamental, although the necessary result of the 

 male organization, and are almost invariably put on just at the period 

 of maturity. Like the slender eye-stalk of this Walckenaera, too, these 

 exaggerated \ parts seem to be, as far as we can judge, often not only 

 superfluous, but also indirectly injurious to the individual. 



Underneath these stones I also captured & good many of a rather 

 rare and local spider, Lycosa piratica, mostly adult females, with egg- 

 cocoons attached to their spinners. Linyphia lougidens I also met 

 with here for the first time, but all immature. 



After a substantial dinner and night's rest at the Stronachlacher inn, 

 at the head of the Loch, we reached Inversnaid (on Loch Lomond) in 

 good time next morning. Here, while waiting for the steamer to In- 

 verarnan, I occupied a couple of hours in exploring the wood at the 

 back of the hotel, but found nothing of any rarity, and indeed scarcely 

 a dozen specimens in the whole. At lnverarnan we found the coach 

 waiting to convey us to Fort William through the far-famed and noble 

 pass of Glencoe ; but as my object here is not to describe the 

 imposing scenery of that grand pass, 1 will only remark that those 

 who have not seen it ought to see it. The next day was devoted to 

 the ascent of Ben Nevis, picking up what insects and spiders we 

 could on our way. We started on the ascent at half-past 11 a.m., 

 and, without much loitering to entomologise, reached the summit at 

 half-past 3, and arrived at Fort William again at 7 p.m.; the dis- 

 tance gone over in the bare ascent and descent being about eighteen 

 miles. The ascent is easy enough, though rather tiring, but the 

 descent is one unbroken rush "down the side of a house" for the last 

 two hours of it. We found ourselves much shaken by the pitching 

 from ledge to ledge of this almost semi-perpendicular descent, and 



