56 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
Agalena labyrinthica lias a special liking for furze bushes ; and it seems 
reasonable to suppose that so prickly a site for the snare saves the young 
and nest from destruction by the noses and legs of cattle. He thinks 
that spiders avoid contact with bees for fear of being stung ; that Eristalis 
is mistaken for a bee, and that the bite of the spider causes the death 
of an insect by the injection of poison. The process of pairing is carried 
on with remarkable pertinacity, and during it, both male and female 
seem utterly oblivious to all their surroundings. 
Though Mr. Pocock could never be sure of attracting Agalena to a 
vibrating tuning-fork Amaurobius similis would always come, and even 
climb along the instrument, but it does not seem to be able to discover 
whence the sound proceeds, unless its web is actually touched with the 
tuning-fork. 
On the other hand, Pholcus phalangioides does not learn of the 
proximity of the fork by the vibration of its web. Small specimens of 
Epeira diademata behave differently from full-grown examples, and it 
appears that there is a runaway instinct which comes into play so long 
as the spider is too small to cope with a wasp. 
Chernetidae.* — Mr. H. M. Bernard, in his notes on this family, 
makes special reference to the vestigial stigmata, and to a new form of 
trachea. The signs of the stigmata may easily be overlooked as they 
can only be seen on cleanly macerated specimens with a high (300-500) 
magnifying power. The “ ram’s-horn ” organs, described by Menge and 
by Croneberg, may be found to present features hitherto unnoticed. 
They are large chitinous organs, capable of considerable extension ; 
they open laterally under the genital operculum, which protects their 
orifices ; they were found to be beset with air-chambers, wherever there 
was room for their development. 
By the older authors these organs were thought to be reproductive, 
and their presence in males only, and their relation to the genital 
apertures, are inter alia , arguments in support of this view. On the 
other hand, not only have they a resemblance to tracheae, but their very 
position may be said to be in close relation with rudimentary limbs — 
which is typical of tracheae ; moreover, the air-chambers render the 
respiratory function of the invagination almost unquestionable. Mr. 
Bernard thinks that we have here to do with one of the simplest of all 
known tracheal invaginations — a short blind chitinous tube, without 
highly specialized crenulations, and without specialized apparatus for the 
protection of the orifice ; and he suggests that the ram’s-horn invagina- 
tions opening under the genital operculum, in the Chernetidae, may be 
the nearest approach to the primitive form of tracheae yet discovered. 
Activity of Heart of Spiders.j — M. W. Wagner has studied the 
physiology of the heart in Sparassus virescens. In its normal state there 
are three periods — the systole, diastole, and the period of repose, which 
are all of the same duration. When the activity becomes exaggerated 
there is no period of repose. The pulse is higher with higher, and 
lower with lower temperatures ; in a period of hunger the pulsations 
become very rapid but extremely feeble. 
