8046 



Arachnida. 



next daj' were quite content to explore quietly, and perhaps more 

 thoroughly than we should otherwise have done, the moor lying be- 

 tween Fort William and Ben Nevis. The only capture of any value 

 made here was an adult male of Neriene vagans. I found here, as I 

 had done on Ben A'an, Lycosa rapax abundant, and here as high 

 up as 3000 feet from the level of the sea. After another day's work 

 in this locality, we passed up the Caledonian Canal to Inverness, 

 stopping to visit the Falls of Foyers, on the banks of Loch Ness. 

 Here I found Linyphia cauta, and other species fond of dark damp 

 situations. From Inverness (where it rained in torrents the whole 

 time we were there) our next point for entomologising was Loch 

 Rannoch, already so famed for Lepidoptera and Coleoptera. Here I 

 had two hard days' work at spiders, during which time the only 

 species of note discovered were Lycosa fluviatilis among the water- 

 worn stones on the shores of the Loch, and Tegenaria silvicola in 

 situations similar to that in which I had previously found it on the 

 Pentlands. During the remainder of the ten days that we stayed 

 here, my time was divided between spiders and Lepidoptera, many 

 species of which last were in great abundance, and much wanted to 

 fill gaps in my cabinet. Spiders were much more plentiful in some 

 parts of the forest on the south side of the Loch than they had 

 appeared to be anywhere since we left the Trosachs, but still nothing 

 in number of species or individuals to what such a situation would 

 have produced further south. I imagine the hosts of large black ants 

 in the Rannoch district must make great havoc among the young 

 broods of spiders : in my own neighbourhood in the South of Eng- 

 land, where the same ant is very abundant, I find it is almost useless 

 to search either for spiders or larvae of Lepidoptera in the immediate 

 vicinity of their nests. Loch Rannoch was the last regular working 

 place we had ; for the next few days after leaving it, except an hour 

 or two's occasional search, we were constantly on the move, going 

 first to Kenmore, thence down Loch Tay to Killin, from Killin by 

 Loch Earnhead and Loch Lubnaig to Callander, and thence to Glas- 

 gow, winding up our tour with a pleasant day or two at the hospitable 

 mansion of the Laird of Dalswinton (MacAlpine Leny, Esq.), near 

 Dumfries. On the door-steps of this mansion I made the last addi- 

 tion to my list of Scotch spiders, by the capture of adult males of 

 Neriene flavipes. 



As I observed before, I expected to find many novelties among 

 Scotch spiders, but from what I could observe during this tour, espe- 

 cially among the more common species, I feel convinced now that 



