1938 - The Vasculum

39
the word " courtship" as if his actions were intended to influence the female;
which is impossible. He is merely passing through the stages of sexual
excitement. The subject is much too large to be discussed here, but those
who appreciate the main point will be all the better equipped to indulge in
the pleasure which I set out to recommend, namely, the easiest way of
keeping spiders (and some other Arachnida) in captivity without hampering
their activities. To keep them in anything like a cage is possible only with
the largest species, and when it can be done is difficult and unsatisfactory.
The smaller fry can only be kept in glass tubes or jars, and feeding is a hard
problem. So I pass on to the simplest way.
It is possible with only one British species, for it is the way of the
aquarium, and we have only one species which actually lives in the water. It
is the Water Spider (Argyroneta aquatica) which is at home in ponds and
slow-moving water. It is pretty widely distributed in the British Isles, but I
have never myself met with it locally, though it has been taken by others in
one or two places in Durham. I got my first specimens in the fens near
Cambridge, where it is very abundant. Later I had a pair which Prof. Heslop
Harrison sent me from Middlesbrough. The first local record goes back to
the fifties of last century when Pickard-Cambridge was an undergraduate at
Durham and kept some specimens in his rooms in the Castle. He got them
in a pond somewhere near the city, but could not remember the locality.
My aquarium is home-made 22" x 10" x 10" -which is just right
for one pair of spiders, giving room for webs and for free movement also.
As it is glazed all round and the plants not too dense, "visibility is good." Of
local plants I have used chiefly Water Crowfoot and Starwort; I like also a
patch of Duckweed, but it must not cover more than a fourth of the surface
and becomes unsightly if disturbed. Aquarium dealers supply Frogbit,
which I should prefer to the Crowfoot, and in the Fens it is the spider's
favourite cover.
A few small water snails are necessary to check confervous
growth, and a lively interest will be added if you put in also a dozen or so of
the beautiful scarlet water mites (Arachnida of the family Hydrachnidae),
which can be found about the margin of ponds and streams almost
anywhere. They are lively little