269 



LINCOLNSHIRE SPIDERS. 



ARTHUR SMITH, 

 Hon. Secretary and Curator, Grimsby and District Naturalists' Society.. 



When I first commenced collecting- Spiders I had not the 

 slightest intention of publishing- this or any other paper on the 

 subject. In taking these animals my object was to assist in any 

 little way I could in compiling- records of our county's fauna. 

 Up to quite recently the Register has been kept by that most 

 industrious Lincolnshire naturalist, the Rev. E. A. Woodruffe- 

 Peacock, but as his time is now so much taken up he has handed 

 it over to me, to which I have already added many notes, and 

 hope that from all parts of the county I may add many more. 

 The whole of Mr. Peacock's notes are of Spiders which have 

 passed through his hands ; these were then forwarded to that 

 greatest of arachnologists, the Rev. O. . Pickard-Cambridge, or 

 to his nephew, F. O. Pickard-Cambridge. The specimens which 

 have gone through my own hands have been referred to these 

 gentlemen or to Mr. F. P. Smith. So it will be seen that what 

 has been done could only have been through the help of these 

 specialists, who have most willingly agreed to authentically name 

 specimens sent, and it is only by taking advantage of so kind an 

 offer that I have been able to compile this list. 



There is no up-to-date work on British Spiders. But two 

 monumental works of industry can be recommended. First, 

 John BlackwalPs ' Spiders of Great Britain and Ireland,' Ray 

 Society, 1861-64. Secondly, Rev. O. Pickard - Cambridge's 

 4 Spiders of Dorset,' 1879-81, published by the Dorset Natural 

 History and Antiquarian Field Club, with numerous supple- 

 mentary papers in the Club Proceedings from 1882 to 1897. 



Of the workers who have gone before, Mr. H. Wallis Kew's 

 papers in ' The Naturalist ' — especially the paper published in 

 1887, pp. 55-59 — are well worth mentioning. The 1887 list was 

 a very good piece of honest work, and as all Mr. Kew's specimens 

 were verified by Rev. O. Pickard-Cambridge, they have been 

 added to this list. I must also mention those well-illustrated 

 papers by my friend, Mr. F. P. Smith, now appearing in 

 4 Science-Gossip.' 



Since commencing this paper, the Rev. O. Pickard-Cambridge 

 has published a most acceptable and much-needed list of British 

 and Irish Spiders, not only containing names and synonyms, but 

 many useful notes on the subject. 



iqoi September 2. 



