110 

THE COMITY OF SPIDERS 

does come to associate certain species with particular soils: Various 

species of 

Zelotes

,

including 

Z

. 

latreillei

,

on chalk, 

Arctosa perita 

on 

sand, 

Lycosa arenicola 

on beach pebbles, and 

L

.

 trailli 

on mountain 

screw. 

These preferences are no doubt in most cases determined by the 

physical properties of the soil. 

Atypus affinis 

Eich., for instance, would 

seem to prefer light loam, but its tubes are to be found in sand, in 

chalk, or in any loose soil which is easily excavated, and through 

which moisture readily drains away. 

Chemical properties may exercise an influence in some cases, as, 

for instance, in towns (see p. 158) or on heaths which have been 

burned. 

THE SPIDERS OF SANDHILLS. 

Although we may see not a single spider as we pick our way 

through the windswept clumps of Marram on a sandhill, careful search 

will reveal a wealth of life and several interesting spiders not to be 

met with elsewhere. To all intents and purposes we can regard the 

following ten species as being restricted in Britain to sandhills: 

Zelotes 

electus

 C.L.K.,

 Clubiona juvenis 

Sim., 

Agroeca lusatica 

L.K.,

Philodromus fallax 

Sund., 

Attulus saltator 

Sim., 

Hyctia nivoyi 

Luc., 

Phlegra fasciata 

Hahn, 

Synageles venator 

Luc., 

Xerolycosa miniata 

Sim., 

Mecopisthes pusillus 

Menge. 

A glance at the county records which are listed in the first chapter 

will show that the 

Clubiona

,

the 

Agroeca 

and the 

Mecopisthes 

are 

restricted to one neighbourhood so far as is known; that the 

Phlegra 

and the 

Synageles 

are southern in distribution; and that the remainder 

are fairly widespread on sandhills round the coast of England. 

From amongst the writings of O. P. Cambridge, A. R. Jackson, J. E. 

Hull, W. Falconer, D. Pack Beresford, G. H. Carpenter, W. Evans and 

others one could amass a list of species exceeding a hundred and fifty 

which have been captured on sandhills, but in spite of this it is not