ADVERTISEMENT. 
In the following work are exhibited, the Portraits of one hundred and feventy-three fpecies of Spiders^ 
collecfled within a very few miles of this metropolis. It is certain that no perfon in this country, 
Mr. Albin excepted, has ever alTembled fo great a variety; nor has any colleftor, perhaps, to boaft the 
poffeffion of drawings to any extent of thefe Infeds. The reafon may probably be, that the objefls are 
of a defcription, the fight of which is too often apt to create difguft, rather than attrafil contemplation : 
otherwife, the Editor is perfuaded, that inftead of one hundred and feventy-three Ipecies, more than 
double that number would long fince have been difcovered in this kingdom, and proportionably in other 
countries. In corroboration of this conclufion, an obfervation may be adduced; that fcarcely a fimi- 
litude in the markings among any of the feveral fpecies in the Swedifh work, can be traced in thofe, 
which are given as Englifh ones. It may, therefore, be prefumed, if perfons, lovers of Natural Hif- 
tory, in provincial fituations, would, at their leifure, take, defcribe, and get drawings executed, of all 
the different Spiders they might find, (a thing very attainable, as the objefts are eafily caught, and at the 
fame time perfeftly harmlefsj ; they might thus furnifh the means of enriching a future edition of this 
work, with a great number of new fpecies. 
The public may depend upon the fidelity of the refpeflive reprefentations, according to nature, of 
the objefls here anew prefented to them. 
The Editor begs further to remark, that, to avoid unneceffary repetition, which would neceffarily 
have occurred in fpeaking of the eyes, it will fuffice, once for all, to inform the reader, that the fize, and 
difpofition of this part of the objefl, (where they have been afcertained}, are diflindly given, near to 
that figure, as they appeared by the help of a common magnifier. 
