41
II.
A Contribution towards the Knowledge of the Arachnida
of Epping Forest.
By the Rev. O. Pickard-Cambridge, M.A., C.M.Z.S., &c.
[Read February 24th, 1883.]
Epping Forest, so renowned in the annals of Entomology,
has been to me, until the past summer (1882), terra incognita.
It had long been my wish to have a run in that celebrated
locality ; it was therefore with much pleasure in the antici-
pation that I found myself, on the evening of the 8th of June,
1882, in company with Mr. F. M. Campbell, of Hoddesdon,
under the hospitable roof of our kind friend, Mr. A. D.
Michael, at Theydon-Bois, intent upon a spider-hunt fixed
for the following day. On the next morning, after a pro-
longed and most interesting visit to Mrs. Michael's "nursery"
(in which were domiciled some thousands of the minutest
Acarids—Oribatidae—all separately housed, tended, fed, and
their life-histories in process of patient and painful working
out), we dived at once into our collecting-ground. The
Forest here is a wild district of hornbeam, pollards, and
underwood, interspersed with old gravel-pits and open spaces
of rough herbage and heather, forming a working-ground
well calculated to raise hopes of good captures. The sun
shone out at first, and boxes and bottles were soon in frequent
requisition ; but by noon clouds began to gather, and the rest
of the day was a succession of heavy thunderstorms, com-
pletely putting an end to "collecting" of any kind. The
success, however, that we met with during the short time
available impressed me with a strong conviction that the
Forest only needs working to produce a long list of Arachnids,
including probably many rarities, and possibly some new
forms. All the species contained in the following list were
found on that morning, excepting four—Marpessa muscosa,