NOTES ON EPPING FOREST SPIDERS.
23
Hasarius falcatus, ♂ and ♀. A pretty "jumping-spider,"
not uncommon on heather.
Ballus depressus. A rather rare species, of which several
specimens have been found in the Forest, and a couple
of females upon the walls of the East London Water
Works, Lea Bridge.
Theridion formosum. One of the most beautiful and
striking of our indigenous spiders. It varies greatly in
point of colour, but may be easily recognised by the
excessive elevation of its abdomen,which might be almost
termed subcorneal. The snare is very extensive and is
usually stretched between the trunk of a tree and a thick
bough, almost invariably below the latter. The pale
brown egg-sacs, several in number, are hidden in a few
fragments of dead leaves, or a single rolled leaf, placed
in the centre of the snare. The spider falls at once
when disturbed and " feigns death "1 with great tenacity.
Phyllonethis Uneata. A delicate yellowish or greenish
white little spider, often ornamented with scarlet
abdominal hands.
Microneta viaria, ♂. A rare species. I had previously
taken only the female in the Forest.
Erigone dentipalpis. A common species on grasslands.
Aranea cucurbitina. A beautiful spider with reddish
thorax and green abdomen.
Numerous immature specimens of Philodromus, Linyphia,
Tetragnatha, Aranea, etc., were also found.
FURTHER ADDITIONS TO EPPING FOREST.
SINCE our last paper on this subject (E.N., Vol. xi., pp.
268-70) several important increments to the open lands
have been reported by the Epping Forest Committee.
The arrangement with Mr. Melles, whereby in exchange for
certain way leaves, 13 acres adjoining the Yardley Hill estate,
Sewardstone, were conveyed to the Conservators without
payment (l.c. p. 268), has now been carried out, and all will admit
1 See note on this habit in the last volume (Vol. XII. p. 281).