60 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



so as to make its branches look like the framework of one immense web. 

 About these webs and often in their midst, the very beautifully constructed 

 nest is placed, and in it we find the female spider with her green egg-cocoon, 

 or later on surrounded by her young. In the autumn, when the young have 

 left the nest, they swarm upon furze bushes, and when beating they often fall 

 into the net in very large numbers. 



The horizontal webs of members of the genus Linyphia often cover shrubs 

 and hedge-bank herbage to such an extent that it is impossible that they 

 should escape observation. 



Another abundant spider is Zilla atrica, which is very nearly allied to 

 Z. x-notata mentioned above, the long palpi of the male of Z> atrica, how- 

 ever, at once distinguished it from Z. x-notata. I have never found Z. 

 atrica more abundantly than on a hot day in last September when I was 

 rambling in a wood, known as Raithby Brackens, where much of the ground 

 is covered with furze bushes ; these bushes were mantled with the orbicular 

 snares of this Zilla {Epeira calophylla, of Blackwall), which were rendered 

 the more conspicuous by the fact that a swarm of Aphides had recently passed 

 over the place, immense numbers of which had been left entangled in the 

 webs. 



Beating. — Drassus lapidicolens, Clubiona holosericea, Dictyna uncinata, 

 Theridion sisyphium, Theridion bimaculatum, Phyllonethis lineata, Neriene 

 rubens, various species of the genus Linyphia, Ero thoracica, Meta segmen- 

 tata, Zilla atrica, Epeira cucurbitina and other members of the genus 

 Epeira, Xysticus cristatus, X. audax, X. lanio, X., ulmi, Oxypiila atomaria, 

 0. praticola, Lycosa nigriceps. 



The best mode for capturing a large Epeira, and indeed most of the other 

 spiders mentioned under the head of " Searching amongst Foliage," is to 

 place the beating-net below the web, and then administer a sharp rap with 

 the stick, which brings down the spider and leaves it sprawling in the net. 



Dragging. — Linyphia hortensis, L. montana, Phyllonethis lineata, Pachy- 

 gnatha degeerii, Tetragnatha extensa, Xysticus cristatus, Philodromus 

 aurcolus, Tibellus ollongus. 



Tetragnatha extensa if taken up in the fingers, like most other spiders, 

 will bite, or rather endeavour to do so, with great energy, but it is quite 

 unable to make any mark upon the skin. This menacing spirit exhibited by 

 our larger spiders, probably accounts in a great measure, for the general 

 prejudice which is entertained against them. I have not yet quite mastered 

 my innate dislike for spiders, and although, should occasion require it, I 

 have no objection to taking the larger Coleoptera or even a slimy five-inch 



