598 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
with which ho has studied American spiders in their native haunts and 
normal habits. The anatomy and physiology of spiders is but lightly 
dealt with, and in no sense as the result of original investigation ; but 
their habitats, their geographical distribution in the States, the cha- 
racters of their snares, dens, nurseries, and hiding-places, and, above 
all, the manner in which the often exquisitely delicate but dynamically 
perfect snares are woven, are all presented with a clearness and ori- 
ginality which give this work on * American Spiders ’ a distinctive place 
in the literature of this fauna. 
The illustrations throughout the book are original, and to the out- 
door student of spider-life are redolent of the heath, the hedge-row, and 
the river-side. They are what has been constantly looked for, but most 
sparingly provided, even by our best European authorities. A know- 
ledge of the individual characters, and the anatomical distinctions of a 
form, justifying its position in a classification, have, as a rule, sufficed. 
Writing in regard to another group of spiders Mr. Moggridge says, “ The 
dwellings of only eight out of thirty-six species of Trap-door stated by 
Prof. Ausserer to belong to the Mediterranean region, are known in 
books, those of the remaining twenty-eight being . . . yet to be dis- 
covered.” * What Mr. Moggridge sought to do for this striking group 
Dr. M‘Cook has done concerning the Orb-weavers of the United States, 
and has pointed out a mode of study which any intelligent naturalist may 
follow, and with patience be certain of securing most profitable results, 
not only in the accomplishment of his own object, but as an aid to other 
experts, for we believe it will be clearly shown that no classification of 
a spider fauna can be thorough which does not include a complete 
knowledge of the weaving habits of the genera and species. 
Dr. M‘Cook rejects the arrangement of the order Aranese adopted 
by Blackwall, dividing the order into (1) Sedentary Spiders and 
(2) Wandering Spiders. In the former he includes (1) Orb-weavers ; 
(2) Line-weavers ; (3) Tube-weavers ; and (4) Tunnel- weavers. In 
the latter are placed (1) Citigrades ; (2) Laterigrades ; and (3) Salti- 
grades. 
But it is in the details of construction, as we have already hinted, 
that his original work is seen. The exact manner in which the bridges 
and scaffolding of silk are stretched across wide interspaces, and the 
viscid spirals laid in, is what was needed to inspire other minds to a like 
study. The “fenders” he so clearly indicates as forming part of 
“ Argiope’s snare,” the adoption of means by the spider, which from an 
engineering point of view, obtain the greatest strength with the slightest 
means, all tend to present this group to the naturalist of the fields in a 
new light. 
Dr. M‘Cook must have enjoyed exceptionally fortunate opportunities 
to obtain such beautiful examples. Some of the snares which he figures 
of Uloborus are of extreme delicacy and beauty ; the snare of the 
“ Triangle Spider ” and its mode of “ operating ” its snare are of much 
interest. So are his observations on the spinning work of Hyptiotes and 
the “ Bay Spider.” But he may be, as he has already been by those 
who have followed the reports of his work in America, congratulated on 
* ‘ Trap-door Spiders,’ p. 75. 
