THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST. 6I 
a 
transmit them, the following suggestions are herewith made. 
My desire to help, however, has a wider reason than this. 
Now that nature study bulks so largely in our public schools,. 
and that many of the latter are forming collections or miniature. 
museums, it is obvious that teachers and pupils would take a 
greater interest in collecting if they had some little knowledge 
to guide them: What to do, and where to look. 
In the first place then, spiders may be sought for in every 
conceivable position—on the ground, under logs, stones, and 
debris, in crevices and fissures of rocks, amongst herbage, upon 
plants, shrubs and trees, under bark, in dark and light. 
situations, amidst refuse on the sea-shore, among rocks, between, 
tide-marks, and even swimming in or skimming over salt- 
water rock-pools, and upon the surface of stagnant waters ; 
the webs of some species are spread horizontally over running 
streams and creeks. I say “horizontally ” advisedly, because: 
most webs are more or less perpendicular. Indeed, it would 
be hard to say where spiders may not be found. In making: a. 
collection, it is of importance that, where possible, specimens of 
architecture should be collected as well as the architect itself, 
and also that notes be made upon their surroundings, together: 
with name of locality and date. : 
With a little practice spiders may be easily collected. Let 
the collector provide himself with a convenient] y-sized bottle, 
having a large mouth and containing some spirit, some chip. 
or glass-topped pill-boxes of assorted sizes, a piece of card, a 
pair of fine-pointed forceps, a camel-hair brush, a net, and a. 
lead pencil. The bottle should be attached to the waist by a 
piece of string, so as to allow the hands to remain free, and the 
cork shouldbe large enough to allow of its being tied to the neck 
of the bottle. This precaution will prevent the cork being 
mislaid, and so avoid not only vexation, but waste of time in 
searching for it when the collector should be busy hunting for 
specimens. Always take the bottle when collecting, but do not. 
be a slave to it by placing everything obtained therein. For: 
instance, when a spider is: discovered that has a particularly 
interesting web, one of the boxes should be used, and a brief 
note written on the bottom. By abbreviating words, a great 
deal of useful information may be crammed into a very small 
Space. ‘I'hus, for instance, “Irreg. w., tub. ret., coc. susp.’ 
might be neatly written, and would mean “ Irregular web, 
tubular retreat, cocoon suspended ;” “U. bark, coc. attach. 
tree” would read, ‘“‘ Under bark, cocoon attached to trunk of 
tree;” “Orb. hor.,” or “ Orb. perp.” would indicate that the 
web was a round, orbicular one, and that it was suspended 
either horizontally or perpendicularly as the case may be. 
Other abbreviations will suggest themselves as the necessity 
for employing them arises. If the spider and cocoon can be 
placed in one box, well and good, if not, then two should be 
