40 



THE YOUNG NATUBALIST. 



Those spiders which are found running or jumping about on the ground, or 

 or on walls or trunks of trees, can easily be caught thus, by means of a 

 test-tube, with very little practice ; for others, which frequent low herbage, a 

 "sweeping-net" (such as those used by entomologists) must be employed; 

 and for those who live on bushes or boughs of trees, there is nothing better 

 than a very large umbrella, into which the boughs may be beaten ; and 

 whether in the net or umbrella, the pill-box or tube will have to be employed 

 for the transfer of the spiders to the spirit bottle. When the day's collecting 

 is done the contents of the bottle must be sorted into tubes of different sizes, 

 according to their genera and species. This can most conveniently be done 

 by turning out the whole contents of the bottle into the cover of a potted- 

 meat pot, or into a saucer. The spiders should then be separated and placed 

 in the tubes by means of a pair of very fine-pointed and elastic forceps, each 

 spider being taken up by a single leg ; the tube is then filled up with clean 

 spirit, a pledget of cotton- wool is placed firmly in its mouth with the forceps, 

 together with a small parchment label, on which (if the label is large enough) 

 the name of the spider is written ; or else a number is inserted in figures, re- 

 ferring to a note-book, wherein notes of locality or habits, &c, are written. 

 The tube thus filled and stopped is then placed, in an inverted position, in a 

 larger, wide-mouthed bottle, capable of holding several species, or perhaps a 

 whole genus ; this wide-mouthed bottle is partly filled with spirit, corked, or 

 stopped with a glass stopper, and has a large label outside, on which the name 

 of the genus and species, or perhaps merely the number of the tube may be 

 placed, so as to show its contents and facilitate reference. A larger pair of 

 forceps, with broad flattened points, is necessary for placing the tubes in the 

 bottle, and for taking them out when the spiders are required for exami- 

 nation."* 



Spiders preserved after the above method are certainly not objects of beauty 

 like a collection of moths aud butterflies • for, though the colours and mark- 

 ings are usually well enough preserved, the legs are often crumpled up a good 

 deal. To the " Goodness gracious " sort of naturalists they are by no means 

 acceptable. The only remark my collection elicited from one of this kind 

 was, " What a lot of bottles ! " A little extra trouble, however, in the pre- 

 paration of a spider will render it worth noticing even by indifferent persons. 

 When stupefied with chloroform, or killed by a short immersion in spirit, the 

 spider should be placed on a piece of cork, fixed to a thin layer of lead ; a 

 few pins at various points (not through the spider, but between the legs and 

 outside the body) will keep it in a natural position • the whole is then placed 



■fc Experience has proved that a good black-lead pencil is better for writing on labels, 

 for insertion in spirit, than ink. — O.P.-C. 



