22
NOTES ON THE SPIDERS OBSERVED AT
THE MEETING IN EPPING FOREST,
JULY 26th, 1902.
By FRANK P. SMITH.
ON this ramble the following species were listed, the localities
being Epping Thicks, Ambresbury Banks, and Honey
Lane Quarters :—
Harpactes hombergii.
Clubiona terrestris.
Clubiona diversa ♀. First record for the Forest.
Tegenaria atrica. This species is not uncommon in the
Forest, spinning an extensive sheet of web behind
which is a tubular opening leading to a usually very
secure retreat.
Agelena labyrinthica. Common in the ditches by the
side of the Epping Road. I have never seen specimens
in positions so exposed to the fingers of the araneologist.
The sheet-like snares are usually placed amongst
rank herbages, often amongst brambles or furze, and
the occupants are thus well protected. In the present
instance the webs were greatly exposed and the tubular
retreat very short, leading simply to slight holes in the
muddy sides of the ditch.
Pisaura mirabilis. Females were found with egg-sacs and
also with newly-hatched families. The egg sac, which
is globular, is carried about by means of the falces and
palpi; and after a time it is deposited upon the top of
some slender plant (often a fern) where it is shrouded in
a kind of silken cage of considerable dimensions (often
3 inches in diameter). Here the young are hatched, the
female being usually found in the immediate vicinity
carefully watching her charge.
Lycosa lugubris. Females also of this species were found,
some with egg-sacs and others with families. The egg-
sacs, lenticular in shape, are attached to the spinners;
and the young when hatched cling to the body of the
mother, scattering if disturbed, but re-congregating as
soon as the danger has passed away.