THE ENTOMOLOGIST’S WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER. 
their hybernacula are liable to be in- 
undated. 
“ For the purpose of securing their 
prey spiders have recourse to divers ex- 
pedients. Numerous species run rapidly 
about in quest of those objects which 
constitute their food ; others, approaching 
their victims with great circumspection, 
spring upon them from a distance; some 
lie concealed in flowers or among leaves, 
seizing^ such insects as come within their 
reach ; and many species procure a sup- 
ply of nutriment by means of complicated 
snares of their own fabrication. Glossy 
lines intersecting each other at various 
angles and in different planes, disposed 
apparently without any regular plan, 
compose one kind of snare. Another 
consists of a thin horizontal sheet of web, 
having in connexion with it above, and 
in some instances also’below, a number 
of slender lines arranged as in the pre- 
ceding snare. A third kind is formed of 
a compact horizontal sheet of web, with 
a tube of greater or less dimensions, at 
or near one of its margins, from which 
several lines frequently extend along its 
upper surface to the other margins, where 
they become attached. A fourth presents 
the appearance of an irregular web of 
white or bluish silk, the tortuous fila- 
ments of which have been curled and in- 
flected by the calamistra before described ; 
in this snare one or two funnel-shaped 
tubes usually occur. The most elegant 
snares, however, are those constructed 
with the appearance of geometrical pre- 
cision in the form of circular nets. They 
are composed of an elastic spiral line, 
thickly studded with minute globules of 
liquid gum, whose circumvolutions, fall- 
ing within the same plane, arer crossed 
by radii converging towards a common 
centre, which is immediately surrouuded 
by several circumvolutions, of a short 
1 19 
spiral line, devoid of viscid globules, 
forming a station from which the toils 
may be superintended by their owner 
without the inconvenience of being en- 
tangled in them. As the radii are un- 
adhesive, and possess only a moderate 
share of elasticity, they must consist of a 
different material from that of the viscid 
spiral line, which is elastic in an extra- 
ordinary degree. Now, the viscidity of 
this line may be shown to depend entirely 
upon the globules, with which it is 
studded, for if they be removed by 
careful applications of the finger, a fine 
glossy filament remains, which is highly 
elastic, but perfectly unadhesive. As the 
globules, therefore, and the line on which 
they are disposed, differ so essentially 
from each other, and from the radii, it is 
reasonable to infer that the physical con- 
stitution of these several portions of the 
net must be dissimilar.” 
(To be continued.) 
S YNONYMIC LIST of BRITISH 
LEPIDOPTERA, for interchange 
amongst Collectors. Part II. is now 
ready. Price Is. 6d. per dozen (post 
free). 
SYNONYMIC LISTS to the end of 
the Noctuse, may still be had on applica- 
tion. Price Is. 3d. per dozen, or 4s. 6d. 
for 50 (post free). 
H. T. Stainton. 
Mountsjield, Lewisham, S.E. 
Complete in Two Vols.,fcp. 8 wo, cloth, 
price 10s., 
A MANUAL of BRITISH BUT- 
TERFLIES and MOTHS. By 
H. T. Stainton. 
This work contains descriptions of 
nearly 2000 species, interspersed with 
observations on their peculiarities and 
times of appearance, &c., and is illus- 
trated with more than 200 woodcuts. 
London : John Van Voorst, 1, Pater- 
noster Row. 
