It is not such an easy matter to secure the spider, which can run like a lamp-lighter, and which has a way of escape at the lower end of its tube. The safest way is suddenly to shut off this means of retreat with the finger and thumb of the left hand and simultaneously to present a glass phial at the mouth of the tube; the spider runs up into it and is taken without the risk of injury. It is never advisable to handle spiders, not because any British species is formidable, but because they so readily part with their limbs in order to escape, and the chances are that only a mutilated specimen will be obtained. Now _Agelena_ does not seem to be a particularly engaging pet, but it has its points. In the first place, it very quickly makes itself at home; a short time is spent in exploring its new quarters, but it adapts itself almost at once to its changed situation. Moreover it is of a peaceable and domestic disposition and the male and female live amicably together, which is far from being the case among the Epeiridae, whose peculiar marital relations are often—quite wrongly—attributed to the whole tribe of spiders. A male garden-spider courts the female at the risk of his life, and it is not surprising that he should evince great hesitation and caution in his advances. If his attentions are unwelcome, or even if they have been accepted, he will be promptly trussed up and eaten unless he beats a hasty retreat. But with _Agelena_ the conjugal relations are exemplary, and harmony reigns in the home. The question of food is certainly a difficulty, but if insects are let loose in the cage the spider will attend to the catching of them. In some cases raw meat has been found a satisfactory substitute.