NOTES ON THE SPIDERS 
By ROBERT PULLEINE, M.B. 
(President of the Royal Society of South Australia) 
The spider fauna of Blackman’s Bay 
proved to be very rich and interest¬ 
ing. 
At Tasman's Memorial the strange¬ 
tailed spider, Aradinura Higginsi, was 
found. This spider is often giegarious, 
and is distinguished, apart from its bi¬ 
zarre form, by being able to spin three 
distinct colours of silk fur various pur¬ 
poses. 
The handsome black and white Aran- 
eus Bradleyi was taken, and Singotypa 
Wagneri was very abundant. Both these 
species are found in Southern Aus¬ 
tralia. 
The Singotypa invariably suspends a 
curled-up leaf in the centre of its orh 
web. and uses the tube so formed as 
its lair and retreat. At Bream Creek, 
besides the Singotypa. two beautiful 
species of Araneus or orb web weavers 
were abundant. 
Along the cliffs one found sheet web 
weavers (Agelaeindac) of several kinds, 
while the hackled web weavers of the 
genus Amaniobius were in evidence 
everywhere. Under bark the great Hel¬ 
ena cancerides was plentiful, often with 
its numerous brood of young, over which 
the mother keeps watchful care. This 
spider cannot he confounded with any 
other. Its great s*zc and uniform colo¬ 
ration distinguish it. as well as the re¬ 
markable coiled '•watch spring" capil¬ 
lary tube in the palp of the male. 
Helena Cancerides has a wide distri¬ 
bution in Australia, the one thing it re¬ 
quires being eucalypti, with large sheets 
of loose hark. 
Other bark-loving species in eviden -e 
were Clubiona robusta and C'helraean- 
tliium gilvum, both familiar to collec¬ 
tors on the mainland, besides a number 
of new and probably undescribed spe¬ 
cies. 
Beating tea tree and eucalyptus sap¬ 
lings over an umbrella gave by far the 
richest harvest. Beautiful Artidne or 
jumping spiders abounded, some of them 
of strange forms and brilliant colora¬ 
tion. This group seems to he espe¬ 
cially abundant in Tasmania, and E 
can recommend it as an interesting and 
fruitful field to anyone wishing to take 
up descriptive zoology. 
The Thomisidae or crab spiders were 
hardly less abundant, and one with a 
porcelain white abdomen and pale green 
eephalo-thorax left little to be desired 
in the way of decorative coloration. 
Then there was the host of micro 
spiders which live in the spiny acacias, 
mostly minute forms of the genus Ara¬ 
neus. 
One of the most interesting finds was 
a single specimen of the genus Minetus 
(the mimic), so called because it builds 
an orb web. although outs'de tile fam¬ 
ily which habitually forms this vari¬ 
ety of snare. It is distinguished by its 
spherical body and long legs, beset with 
eomb-like spines, quite unlike any other 
form. It often eats other spiders and 
occupies tliVir webs instead of build¬ 
ing one of its own. This specimen had 
ousted Singotypa W agneri. 
It was, however, at Mole Creek Caves 
that we collected Tasmania’s most aris¬ 
tocratic spider. Amongst the hackled 
web spinners there Is a small family, 
the llypocliilidae. only containing three 
members one in North America, one in 
China, and one in Tasmania. This fam¬ 
ily differs from all known true spider* - 
16 
