PART II.

TRAP-DOOR SPIDERS.

It is now one hundred and sixteen years since Patrick Browne gave an illustration in his _Civil and Natural History of Jamaica_[43] of the nest of a trap-door spider, the first record of the kind with which I am acquainted. Seven years later the careful observations of the Abbé Sauvages appeared,[44] in which he gave a very good description of the nests of the "araignée maçonne" (_Nemesia cæmentaria_), which he discovered near Montpellier, likening them to little rabbit burrows lined with silk and closed by a tightly-fitting moveable door. In 1778 and 1794 Rossi[45] published an interesting account of the nest and habits of a trap-door spider which he had observed in Corsica and near Pisa; and from that time up to the present day the curious dwellings of these creatures, many species of which have been discovered in warm climates, have continued to attract the attention of naturalists.

[Footnote 43: P. 420, tab. 44, fig. 3 a. This work was published in London in 1756.]

[Footnote 44: In Histoire de l'Acad. Royale des Sciences (Paris 1763), p. 26-30.]

[Footnote 45: Rossi (P.), Osservazione Insettologische (Memorie di Matematica e Fisica della Società Italiana, vol. iv. (1778), and Fauna Etrusca, vol. ii. (1794)).]

Very little, however, has been added to our knowledge of the life-history of these remarkable architects for several years past, and, indeed, I think it may be safely asserted that the study of the habits and interdependence of the members of the animate world has not, during the last fifty years, made anything like a corresponding progress to that which may be seen in classification and description. The microscope has led many who, a century ago, would have found their chief delight in observing those points in the habits and external characters of living creatures which the naked eye could readily seize upon, to look much closer, to anatomize and describe in detail every organism, great and small, and to examine every tissue and cell.

It is, however, to the materials now being amassed by these modern "cabinet naturalists" that recourse must be had if we wish to form a true comprehension of the functions and habits of living things. They must tell us, for example, what instruments, tactile and visual, an animal possesses if we wish to understand how it constructs a particular fabric, so that the "field naturalist" will have to apply to his brother of the "cabinet" before he can turn his observations to good account.

Still, the fact remains that the habits of plants and animals afford many openings for careful investigation, and such as are especially within the reach of those lovers of nature who have ample time at their disposal, and the opportunity to spend it in a warm climate where life abounds, and is never wholly checked even in the depth of winter. It seems strange to think that collectors so frequently take creatures out of wonderfully constructed nests and yet never observe, or at any rate never describe, the structure of these fabrics. Thus, for example, the dwellings of only eight out of the thirty-six species of trap-door spider stated by Prof. Ausserer[46] to belong to the Mediterranean region are known in books, those of the remaining twenty-eight being, as far as I have been able to learn, yet to be discovered. This is the more strange as from the nocturnal habits of these creatures it is almost always necessary to dig them out of their nests; indeed it is more than probable that if all the dwellings which have been destroyed had been described, the following pages would never have appeared.

[Footnote 46: Prof. Ausserer (Anton.), Beiträge zur Kenntniss der Arachniden Familie der Territelariæ (Mygalidæ), in Verhandlungen der k.k. Zool. Bot. Gesellschaft in Wien. Jahrg. 1871, Band xxi.]

Before proceeding to pass briefly in review what has been written on the subject of trap-door spiders, it will be well to take one glance at the relation which these spiders bear to their fellows. The great order of spiders (_Araneæ_) has recently[47] been divided into seven sub-orders, the fourth of which, _Territelariæ_, includes all the trap-door spiders, and some others which do not construct trap-doors. This sub-order corresponds with that which was formerly called _Mygalidæ_, but this name, as well as that of _Mygale_, originally given to all trap-door spiders, has been abandoned because this latter name had previously been applied to a genus of Mammals, and it was feared that confusion might arise.

[Footnote 47: Thorell, On European Spiders, in Nova Acta Reg. Soc. Scient. Upsaliensis, ser. iii. vol. vii. fasc. 1 and 2 (1869-70).]

The _Territelariæ_ [or underground weavers] are distinguished from all other spiders by the position of their falces,[48] which have the fang directed downwards, and move vertically parallel to one another. Thus when a victim is seized by one of the _Territelariæ_ it receives a downward blow, while other spiders strike sideways, the falces moving in a horizontal or oblique direction. With very few exceptions this sub-order may also be known by the presence of four blotches of paler colour at the base of the abdomen underneath, indicating the position of four air-sacs, almost all, or indeed perhaps all, other spiders having but two.

[Footnote 48: Sometimes called mandibles. One of these is represented, enlarged, at Fig. A 7. in Plate VII., p. 88.]

Certain species of _Territelariæ_ are the only spiders known to construct nests closed with a door, and these creatures must be admitted to rank among the first of Nature's handicraftsmen and inventors.

The geometrical webs of many common spiders are very beautiful structures, but these are for the most part only snares for prey, and not permanent dwellings, although the cocoons in which the eggs are placed are often most ingeniously contrived. Thus in the south we may sometimes find an inverted balloon of strong silk about an inch long attached to heath and other bushes, which, if examined during the winter, will be found to contain in its centre a case enclosing a mass of eggs about one-third the bulk of the entire cocoon. This inner case is shaped exactly like the outer, and both have a circular silk lid carefully closed, and the space between the two is filled with a dense mass of golden-brown silk, which acts no doubt as an excellent non-conductor. This cocoon is the work of _Epeira fasciata_, a species apparently only found in southern Europe.

Other spiders again, such as _Theridion_,[49] suspend by a long and delicate cord of silk a minute balloon, scarcely larger than a seed-pearl, containing their eggs, which sways to and fro in the lightest breath of air. But admirable as these cocoons and geometrical snares are, the homes of these and of spiders generally do not exhibit much contrivance or ingenuity, or cannot at any rate be ranked in the same category as those of the trap-door spider. But it may be asked, why should we admire the one more than the other, since it is clear that the most squalid and mean-looking nest exactly serves the purpose of its occupant, whether for shelter or defence, and in many cases a spider might even say with truth that as for her home it would not be so safe if it were not so dirty.

[Footnote 49: _Theridion variegatum_ (Bl.). _Ero tuberculata_, Koch.]

But the answer is simple: the trap-door spider's dwelling is to that of common spiders what the Mont Cenis tunnel is to other tunnels, and something besides.

What delights us is to see how by clever contrivance and great perseverance new and multiplied difficulties have been overcome, and dangers avoided, and the interest aroused is exactly proportionate to the amount of these difficulties and dangers.

It is hoped that the following pages and their accompanying illustrations will vindicate the claims of these spiders to the marked attention and admiration which is here asserted to be their due as architects and engineers.

There is but one British or North European representative of the _Territelariæ_--namely, _Atypus piceus_ (or _Sulzeri_),[50] and this creature does not appear to deserve the name of trap-door spider, for in three nests which M. H. Lucas kindly showed me, preserved at the Jardin des Plantes at Paris, the mouth of the tube was destitute of any covering. I gathered from what I saw, and from what M. Lucas told me, that these nests [which he had taken in the neighbourhood of Paris], consist of a silk tube from eight to ten inches long, of which about one inch only at the lower extremity penetrates the earth, the remainder being carried upwards in an irregular and sinuous course among the stems and leaves of small plants and grasses to which it is attached. When the tube is removed from these supports it collapses, and appears like a rather coarsely woven ribbon-shaped strip of silk.[51]

[Footnote 50: Unless it should prove, as Prof. Ausserer suggests, that the British _Atypus_ is distinct from the Continental, when it would bear the name of _Atypus Blackwallii_. (Ausserer, l. c. p. 17).]

[Footnote 51: I have never been able to meet with an English specimen of the nest of _Atypus_; but it would appear from the descriptions that the English differ from the French nests in being subterranean, and in having the mouth of the tube concealed by a loose flap of silk. Mr. Blackwall says: [Spiders of Great Britain and Ireland, part i. p. 14] "Dr. Leech has taken specimens of _Atypus Sulzeri_ in the vicinity of London and Exeter. It excavates, in humid situations, a subterraneous gallery, which is at first horizontal, but inclines downwards towards its termination. In this gallery it spins a tube of white silk, of a compact texture, about half inch in diameter.... Part of the tube hangs outside of the aperture to protect the entrance."

It would be interesting to learn whether these differences permanently distinguish the English from the French nests, and if so, whether the spiders which construct them are not, as Prof. Ausserer is inclined to believe, distinct also.]

Four types of trap-door nest, properly so called, may now be distinguished in the world at large, and these are represented diagrammatically in the following woodcut.[52]

[Footnote 52: Where all the figures, except C 1, and D 1, which are of the natural size, are reduced to about one-third of the actual size in large specimens.]

Of these two only (A and B) were known up to the present time, the construction of which is much simpler than that of the two new types (C and D), which I have hitherto only found at Mentone and Cannes.[53]

[Footnote 53: It must not be supposed that I have a sole or prior claim to what may prove to be new and of interest in the following observations on the Trap-door Spiders of the Riviera. This priority belongs to the Hon. Mrs. Richard Boyle, to whom I owe it that I ever took up the subject. It was, thanks to her guidance, that I first became acquainted with these marvellously-concealed nests in their native haunts, and to her active help that I finally arrived at a comprehension of the different types of structure which they present.]

It will be seen at a glance that A and B have but one door, while C and D have two, these latter having a surface door, and also another door a short way under ground.

All the nests consist of a tube excavated in the earth to a greater or less depth, unbranched in all but D, and in every case lined with silk, this lining being continuous with the lining of the door or doors of which it forms the hinge.

I have found it convenient to distinguish these four types of nests by the following names:--A, the single door cork nest, or shortly the cork nest; B, the single door wafer nest; C, the double door unbranched nest; and D, the double door branched nest.

The type B has only been found in the West India Islands, and is chiefly distinguished from A by having a thin and wafer-like door, wholly constructed of silk, without admixture of earth, lying on rather than fitting into the aperture of the tube; while in A the door is much thicker, made of layers of earth and silk, and so contrived that it tightly closes the mouth of the tube, which is bevelled to receive it, much as a cork closes the neck of a bottle.[54]

[Footnote 54: Nests belonging to the type A, are represented in Plates VII., p. 88, and VIII., p. 94.]

The West Indian nests are of a much tougher and coarser texture than those which I have seen in Europe, and vary somewhat in the shape of their tube, which is curved or straight, and sometimes has near its lower extremity a short spur-shaped enlargement, giving to the whole a ludicrous resemblance to a stocking, of which this spur is the heel.

Mr. Gosse,[55] in his _Naturalist's Sojourn in Jamaica_, has given an admirable description of one of these single door wafer nests, the work of _Cteniza nidulans_, which I cannot do better than quote:--

[Footnote 55: Gosse (P. H.), Naturalist's Sojourn in Jamaica (1851), p. 115-118. See also for another description of the same nest Latreille's Vues Générales sur les Araneides, in the Nouv. Ann. du Muséum (Paris, 1832), tom. i. p. 73-4.]

The nest is "cylindrical, or nearly so, from four to ten inches deep, and about one inch in diameter; the bottom is rounded; and the top, which is at the surface of the soil, is closed very accurately with a circular lid. They are not all equally finished, some being much more compact, and having the lid more closely fitted than others. Some have irregular bulgings, and ragged laminated offsets on the outer surface; but all are smooth and silky on the inside.... The mouth of the tube, and the parts near it, are very strong; the walls here often having a thickness of from one-eighth to one-fourth of an inch; but the lower parts are much thinner. The lid is continuous with the tube for about a third of its circumference, and this part may be called the hinge, though it presents no structure peculiar to itself; it is simply bent at a right angle, as is manifest, if a nest be cut longitudinally through with scissors, the incision passing through the midst of the lid. The mode of construction, I judge, from examination of many nests, to be this. The spider digs a cylindrical hole in the moist earth, with her jointed fangs or mandibles, carrying out the fragments as they are dislodged. When the excavation has proceeded a little way, she begins to spin the lining which forms the dwelling. I conclude thus, because nests are occasionally found a few inches in length, with the lid and upper part perfect, but without any bottom, these being evidently in the course of formation. I suppose that she weaves her silk at first in unconnected patches, against the earthy sides, perhaps where the mould is liable to fall in; and thus I account for the loose rough laminæ of silk that are always found projecting from the outer surface. These are overlaid with other patches more and more extensive, until the whole interior walls are covered; after which the silk is spun evenly and continuously all round the interior, in successive layers of very dense texture, though thin. Under the microscope, with a power of 220 diameters, these layers are resolved into threads laid across each other and intertwined in a very irregular manner; some are simple, varying from 1/7000 to 1/2000 of an inch in diameter, and others are compound, several threads, in one part separate, being united into one of greater thickness which cannot then be resolved.... The mouth of the tube is commonly dilated a little, so as to form a slightly recurved brim or lip; and the lid is sometimes a little convex internally, so as to fall more accurately into the mouth and close it.

"The thickening of the hinge by additional layers is, I think, accidental only, as, out of the many specimens that I have examined, only one or two had such a structure. In the neatest examples, the lid is of equal thickness throughout its extent, agreeing also with the walls for the first few inches of their depth."

Mr. Gosse says that he possesses one specimen of peculiar compactness, which differs from all the others that he has examined in having "a row of minute holes, such as might be made by a very fine needle, pierced around the free edge of the lid, and a double row of similar ones just within the margin of the tube. There are about fifteen or sixteen punctures in each series, and they penetrate through the whole substance, the light being clearly seen through each hole. I do not think, as I have somewhere seen suggested, that they are intended to afford a hold for the spider's claws when she would keep her door shut against the efforts of an enemy, for what would be the use of having them in the tube _close to the lid_, so close that not the eighth of an inch intervenes between the surface of the lid and that of the tube, when the former is tightly closed? I would suggest whether they may not be air-holes, for so tight is the fitting of the lid, and so compact the texture of the material, that I should suppose the interior would be impermeable to air but for this contrivance."[56] "The spider that inhabits this nest is black, with the thorax of an exceedingly lustrous polish, its abdomen is full and round, its legs very short."

[Footnote 56: I cannot myself think this explanation probable, and should still be inclined to consider these punctures to be the claw marks of the spider, as is the case in some European nests.]

Another form of this single door wafer nest is described by Mr. Sells,[57] in which there is a hinge-like thickening of the silk lining of the tube about an inch below the actual hinge of the door, which it is suggested may serve to give additional elasticity. This was not found, however, in all the nests examined, and Mr. Sells conjectures that in newly constructed nests the lid may close sufficiently firmly without this contrivance, and that it is only added in older nests.

[Footnote 57: Mr. W. Sells. Notes respecting the Nest of _Cteniza nidulans_, in Trans. Ent. Soc. ii. 207-210.]

Patrick Browne's figure, to which reference has been made above, represents a nest with two doors, one applied against the other, at the mouth of the tube, and it has often been asked what this could possibly mean.

Some have thought that the drawing was fanciful, others that it was made from an abnormal or injured nest. However, I believe that the drawing, though rude, is, in fact, not very incorrect, and shows a case of repair or enlargement of the nest, a subject to be treated of more fully further on. There is a specimen exhibited in the British Museum which in this respect very nearly corresponds with Browne's figure; it is labelled "Nest of Trap-door Spider with two doors, from the spider having enlarged its abode.--Jamaica." Here one sees that the spider has prolonged its tube about half an inch beyond the original mouth of the nest, where it has constructed a new mouth and door, the old door standing straight up at the back of and behind the new one.

I imagine that the explanation of this curious piece of cobbling may be somewhat as follows:--When the nest was in its original state and had but one door, this door became by some accident covered over with earth to about the depth of half an inch, and the inmate was thus imprisoned. Then the spider, being, like most other members of its order, very unwilling to abandon its home, determined to clear away the entrance to its nest, and to lengthen the tube so that it should reach up to the new level of the surface of the earth.... If I am right, this should rather be called a lengthening than an enlargement of the tube.

The nests of the cork type (A, p. 79) may usually be distinguished at a glance from those of the wafer type by the greater thickness of the door, and by its manner of shutting, but a nest from Morocco has been figured and described by Prof. Westwood,[58] which seems intermediate between the two. The door in this case may perhaps be considered as of the cork type, though it is very thin, for it does fit into the mouth of the tube, which is bevelled to receive it.

[Footnote 58: Observations on the Species of Trap-door Spiders, in Trans. of Entomological Soc., London, 1841-3, vol. iii. p. 175.

I wish to take the present opportunity of thanking Prof. Westwood for having afforded me special facilities for examining this and other specimens forming part of the very valuable collections under his care at Oxford.]

These nests were forwarded with their living occupants (_Cteniza [Actinopus] ædificatorius_) from Tangiers to Prof. Westwood, who describes the nests as being "about four inches deep, slightly curved within, about three quarters of an inch in diameter, the valve at the mouth not being circular, but rather of an oval form, one side where the hinge is placed being straighter than the other. The valve is formed of a number of layers of coarse silk, in the upper layers of which are imbedded particles of the earth, so as to give the cover the exact appearance of the surrounding soil, the several successive layers causing it, when more closely inspected, to resemble a small flattened oyster-shell."

The resemblance between this nest and that of the West Indian species is the more interesting as Prof. Westwood says that both belong to the same genus, (_Cteniza_ or _Actinopus_ of different authors,) and are so closely allied as to present scarcely any important distinction but that of size.

We shall find, however, on comparing the nests of these trap-door spiders and their occupants, that we cannot as yet make any rule as to the kind of nest which we may expect from a given spider.

It will be seen that species belonging to the same genus, and closely resembling one another, sometimes build dissimilar nests; while others, belonging to different genera, and unlike in many important respects, construct almost identical nests.

This is the more strange, because, if we examine the structure of the claws and palpi, they often seem to be specially adapted to serve as carding instruments and to play a very important part in the weaving of the silk linings of the nest; and yet nests of the same type are occasionally produced by spiders in which these appendages are quite unlike, and dissimilar nests where the claws and palpi are to all appearance identical.

Thus, for example, if the reader will examine the drawings of part of the foremost right foot of _Cteniza fodiens_, figs. A, 9 and 10, Plate VII., p. 88, with that of _Nemesia cæmentaria_, figs. A, 9 and 10, Plate VIII., p. 94, both of which make nests of the cork type, he will see that in the former the last joint of the tarsus is armed along the inner side, with many moveable spines, and that each of the two curved terminal claws has only one very strong tooth near the base; while the same joint of the latter (_N. cæmentaria_) has no spines, and the claws have three minute comb-like teeth near the base.

On the other hand, in the reverse case, where the structure of the same joint is very similar, the nests may be wholly unlike, as in _Nemesia Eleanora_, Plate XII., p. 106, and _N. cæmentaria_, Plate VIII., where the nest of the former is of the double-door unbranched type, and that of the latter of the single-door cork type.

It is probable however that a fuller and closer comparison of, and a more exact acquaintance with the several parts and their functions might show us that all spiders which spin similar webs are furnished with equivalent instruments, so that what one leg lacks another may possess in some shape or another; brushes of stiff hairs in one place, compensating for a toothed claw, or for a row of moveable spines in another.[59]

[Footnote 59: The claws are probably of first-rate importance in this respect and should be most carefully studied. M. Lucas has stated that the claws of _Mygale Blondii_, and _M. nigra_ from Algiers, and of _M. nigra_ and _M. avicularia_ from Brazil, are retractile like those of a cat! Unfortunately the dwellings of these spiders have not been described. See Lucas (H.) in Rev. et Mag. de Zoologie, sér. 2, tom. ix. 1857, p. 587, and Ann. de la Soc. Entom. de France, ser. 3, tom. v. p. cxx., and vi. p. clxxi. Another curious point in which spiders differ is the presence or absence of viscidity in the hairs which clothe their feet and palpi. Mr. Blackwall states (Spiders of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. i. p. 13), that by far the greater number of the sub-order _Territelariæ_, or _Mygalidæ_ as he terms them, "have the inferior surface of their biungulate tarsi, and of the digital joint of their pediform palpi, in the females, densely clothed with compound, hair-like papillæ, constituting an apparatus which, by the emission of a viscous secretion, enables them to traverse the perpendicular surfaces of dry, highly polished bodies; others have three pairs of spinners and are destitute of hair-like papillæ on the legs and palpi."

The four species of trap-door spider on the Riviera, here described, appear to form exceptions to this rule, however, for they all remained helpless prisoners when placed in a glass tumbler, though struggling vigorously for freedom.

When, however relying on this experience, I placed a number of smaller spiders of different kinds in glasses for examination some walked straight out without any difficulty, while others were unable to climb up the sides.]

It would be interesting, from this point of view, to draw all the parts which may be supposed to aid in the act of weaving, and so to contrast the corresponding limbs of different spiders, the nests of which are known, that one might see at a glance in what they differed and agreed. I have done this for the falces and the last joint of the foremost right foot of the four spiders figured in Plates VII., VIII., IX., and XII., but to make the case complete all the limbs should be represented in the same way.

Of the two spiders which are shown with their cork nests in Plates VII. and VIII., the purplish grey _Cteniza fodiens_, (Plate VII.) appears to be much rarer than the brown striped _Nemesia cæmentaria_ (VIII.), at any rate at Mentone. I have hitherto only succeeded in obtaining four specimens of the former, though I have searched repeatedly for them at Cannes and Mentone, while the latter species is tolerably common.

The nests are, however, often extremely hard to find, and in some cases it is only by chance that I have been able to light upon them. All these trap-door spiders seem usually to prefer rather moist and shady places, and sloping banks or loose terrace walls where the interstices between the stones are filled up with earth, and concealment is afforded by the creeping lycopodium (_Selaginella denticulata_), Ceterach, spleen-wort or maiden-hair ferns, with short moss and splashes of white lichen to distract the eye.

It was from such a terrace wall at Mentone, on March 26, 1872, that the nest A in Plate VII. was taken, the tube running obliquely back into the earth between the stones, and the door being concealed by a net-work of lycopodium, one spray of which had been allowed to grow on its upper surface.

The tubes of these as of the other kinds of nest are sometimes straight, but more frequently they are bent, and almost always take a downward course.

The following is Mr. Pickard-Cambridge's description[60] of _Cteniza fodiens_, the spider which constructs this nest.

[Footnote 60: The following description and remarks, printed in a different type, have been kindly prepared for this work by the Rev. O. Pickard-Cambridge, to whom I sent a series of specimens of the spiders preserved in spirit of wine and their nests. My very sincere thanks are due to Mr. Pickard-Cambridge for this assistance, which will give to my publication a value in the eyes of Arachnologists which it could not otherwise have possessed. To all those who wish to study the true structural relations of the four spiders, the habits of which are recorded in the following pages, these details will prove of the highest importance; while those who are only interested in the economy of these creatures can readily pass them over. For observers in the field there is a very ready way of knowing these four spiders apart, as it will be seen that when they are somewhat alike the nests are different (_Nemesia meridionalis_ and _N. Eleanora_), and when the nests are alike (_Cteniza fodiens_ and _Nemesia cæmentaria_) the spiders are markedly dissimilar.]

FAM. THERAPHOSIDES.

Gen. Cteniza, Latr.

Cteniza fodiens. Plate VII.

Syn. _Mygale fodiens_, Walck. _Ins. Apt._, i. p. 237.

_M. Sauvagei_, Ausserer, _Beiträge zur Kenntniss der Arachniden Familie der Territelariæ (Thor.)_, p. 36.

Female adult length 10 lines.

_Cephalothorax_ oblong oval, somewhat truncate at each end, and of a dull whitish-yellow brown colour, the normal grooves and furrows are strongly marked, the caput is large and elevated, rounded on the sides and slightly higher near the occiput than at the ocular area, the junction of the thoracic segments is indicated by a strong deep curved indentation, the curve directed backwards; there are a few strong black bristles of different lengths within the ocular space, and several others run backwards in the central line to the occiput. The height of the Clypeus is equal to rather more than the diameter of one of the foremost eyes. The _Eyes_ are eight, and form a rectangular figure whose transverse diameter is the longest, and whose fore side is a little shorter than the hinder one; the longitudinal diameter is about equal to the space between the two foremost eyes; these are the largest of the eight, and are separated by an interval of very nearly two eyes' diameters; the two central eyes are the smallest, and are distant from each other just about one eye's diameter, the eyes of the hinder row are in two pairs forming the hinder corners of the rectangle, those of each pair are nearly contiguous to each other, and the inner one of each is the smallest; these last in the figure appear to be the smallest of the eight, but this arises from the point of view whence the figure was drawn; the two central eyes occupy as nearly as possible the centre of the figure formed by the two foremost eyes, and the two inner ones of the hinder row, and are seated on a large black spot. The _Legs_ are short, strong, and similar to the Cephalothorax in colour, their relative length appeared to be 4, 3, 1, 2, they are furnished with hairs, bristles, and short strong spines. These latter are on those of the two first pairs, situated chiefly in two longitudinal parallel rows beneath the tibiæ, metatarsi, and tarsi; on those of the third pair they are situated on the sides and upper sides of those joints, while the fourth pair has them only beneath the metatarsi and tarsi; all the tarsi terminate with three claws, the two superior ones are much the longest and strongest, and have a single short strong tooth inside near the base. Near the union of the femora and genuæ of the legs of the fourth pair are numerous short strong spines, hairs, and bristles. The _Palpi_ are similar in colour to the legs; they are strong and about equal in length to the legs of the second pair, and have a double longitudinal row of strong spines widely separated and divergent from each other beneath them; the digital joint (like the tarsi of the legs) is furnished with other spines between these two rows; each palpus terminates with a single untoothed curved claw. The _Falces_ are strong, prominent, rounded in the profile line, and have some hairs, bristles, and spines near their fore extremities; the longest and strongest of the spines are three in number, and form a kind of transverse row or comb at the extreme inner point on the upper side of each falx; besides these there is a row of short tooth-like spines on either margin of the furrow on the under side of each falx in which the fang lies concealed when at rest. The _Maxillæ_ are short and strong; the palpi issue from their extremity on the outer side, and the inner extremity is somewhat prominent and pointed.

The _Labium_ is small, short, somewhat rectangular in form, and broader than high; the apex is a little rounded, and furnished with a single transverse row of small tooth-like spines.

The _Sternum_ is somewhat subtriangular in form, much broader behind, where it is rounded on the outer angles.

The _Abdomen_ is short oval, very convex above, where it is of a yellowish vinous brown colour, with a slightly darker longitudinal tapering, indistinct central stripe on the fore part; it is sparingly clothed with hairs, and the under side is of a pale dull yellowish colour; the spinners are four in number, and those of the superior pair are the strongest, three jointed and upturned.

Adults and immature examples (all females) were found in tubular holes lined with silk and closed at the orifice with a strong solid hinged lid, shutting into the opening like a cork.

The portions of nests at B and C in Plate VII. also belong to _Cteniza fodiens_, the latter being very similar to A in its surroundings, but having a rather thinner door, slightly hollowed out above (C 1). The smaller nest shown shut at B and open at B 1,[61] is admirably concealed by mosses and lichens, some of which actually grow upon the door, and here two minute trap-doors, belonging to infantine examples of a distinct species of spider (_Nemesia meridionalis_), are seen on the left hand below.

[Footnote 61: It must be clearly understood that when the doors are represented as standing open or ajar this is unnatural, as they always close by their own combined weight and elasticity.]

It is not rare to find small colonies of nests of the same or distinct species grouped closely together in this way, though I greatly doubt whether one can safely assume their sociability from this fact.

I have very seldom seen nests on the flat ground, where the door would lie horizontally when closed, a sloping or nearly vertical bank being usually chosen, where the door will fall to by its own weight.

In the Ionian Islands another species or variety of _Cteniza_, described under the name of _Cteniza (or Mygale) ionica_, and represented as being of an uniform yellow-brown colour, is said to make its nests in the earth of the terraces round the roots of the olive trees.

Mr. Saunders[62] gives admirable figures and descriptions which show us at once that these nests, which he discovered in rather elevated situations in the island of Zante, are of the cork type; but, in this case, the entire door does not shut flush with the surface, as in ordinary cork nests, but has a short spur-like projection above and behind the hinge, serving, as is conjectured, like a lever, by pressing on which from the outside the lid may easily be raised.[63] When I come to speak of the manner of constructing and repairing nests I shall have occasion to refer to these nests again.

[Footnote 62: Sydney Smith Saunders. Description of a Species of Mygale from Ionia, in Trans. Ent. Soc. London, 1839, vol. iii. p. 160, Plate IX.]

[Footnote 63: I must own to some hesitation about accepting this explanation, though I am not prepared to offer any other.]

I have not as yet found any nests on the Riviera which can be said to correspond accurately with those of _Ct. ionica_, the only builders of cork nests yet discovered in this district being _Cteniza fodiens_ and _Nemesia cæmentaria_.

This latter species is described by Mr. Pickard-Cambridge,[64] in the following terms:--

[Footnote 64: See above, p. 88.]

Gen. Nemesia (Savigny).

Nemesia cæmentaria. Plate IX.

Syn. _Mygale cæmentaria_ (Latr.), _H. N. des Crust._ t. vii. p. 164.

_M. cæmentaria_ (Walck), _Ins. Apt._ i. p. 135.

Female adult, length 9 to 11 lines.

_Cephalothorax_ rather elongate, oval, and somewhat truncated at each extremity; the caput is elevated and rounded on the sides and upper part, but less elevated than in _Cteniza_; the normal grooves and indentations are well marked, and the junction of the cephalic and thoracic segments is indicated by a strong deep impression or cleft, of a transverse, curved, or somewhat bent angular form, the curve or angle directed forwards. The colour of the cephalothorax is yellow-brown tinged with olive, the margins are paler, but have no distinctly defined marginal band. On the hinder part of the caput are three clear brown-yellow longitudinal stripes; the central one reaches from behind the two hind central eyes to the thoracic junction, the lateral ones converge a little to the same point, but do not reach nearly, in fact not much more than half way, to the eyes. The clypeus is of a clear brown-yellow colour also, and on either side of it (extending from each fore lateral eye), is an irregular patch of the same. The ocular region and clypeus are furnished with a few strongish black bristles, and the three yellow stripes above mentioned have a few more, those on the central stripe being the longest and strongest, and disposed in a single longitudinal row.

The _Eyes_, eight in number, are seated on a transverse oval eminence, and form a rectangular figure, whose transverse diameter is double the length of its longitudinal diameter: their relative position is similar to that of _Cteniza_, but in the present species they are smaller than in _C. fodiens_: those of the hind central pair are the smallest of the eight, and each is very nearly contiguous to the hind lateral on its side; the interval between those of each lateral pair is small; the space between the two central eyes of the eight is equal to an eye's diameter, and each of these is separated from the hind central and fore lateral nearest to it by a similar interval. The _Legs_ are strong, moderately long, their relative length 4, 1, 3, 2?, but little difference is observable between 1, 3, and 2; they are furnished with hairs, bristles, and a few, not very strong, spines; each tarsus terminates with three curved claws, the two superior ones much the longest and strongest, and have a few small teeth near their base inside.

The _Palpi_ are strong and similar in colour and armature to the legs; each is terminated with a curved black claw.

_Falces_ strong, prominent, and rounded in the profile line; they are furnished with hairs, bristles, and strong tooth-like spines; the four strongest of these latter form a transverse row at the inner extremity of each; besides these there is a row of short tooth-like spines on the inner margin of the furrow on the underside of each falx, in which the fang lies concealed when at rest. The _Maxillæ_ are strong, with a small angular prominence at their inner extremities (when looked at from beneath), and each has three to four small dark-coloured teeth in a short, straight, obliquely transverse row at the base on the inner side. _Labium_ broad but short, its breadth is double its height, and the upper corners are rounded off. The _Sternum_ is of a somewhat pentagonal form.

_Abdomen_ rather elongate oval, tolerably, but not excessively, convex above; it is of a dull yellowish whitey-brown colour marked and mottled above with dark chestnut brown; the markings are rather irregular, but a general disposition in the form of a longitudinal central, and oblique lateral, stripes or bars may be traced on the hinder half; the superior spinners are short and three-jointed, those of the inferior pair are exceedingly minute.

Adult females were found in nests similar to those of _Cteniza fodiens_.

The cork nests are the simplest form of nest, with the exception of those described above from Jamaica, and have constituted, up to the present time, the only type known in Europe. Their chief claims to our admiration lie in the perfection of workmanship which the doors usually exhibit, and the marvellous concealment which they afford when closed. These doors as a rule fit so tightly [thanks to the accurate adjustment of their sloping sides to the bevelled lip of the tube which receives them,] that they afford a certain amount of mechanical resistance, even when the spider is away. But, after examining a very large series of these cork nests, I find that there is some variation in the degree of perfection attained in their work by different individuals of the same kind. The mechanical resistance is greater or less in proportion to the thickness and weight of the door, and to the slope of its sides, and of the bevelled edges of the tube; and in each of these details a marked difference may be observed.

One might suppose from what has so often been repeated as to the habits of _N. cæmentaria_, that, whenever any one attempts to open the door, the spider, which is always at home in the day time, would dart up from the bottom of the tube and endeavour to keep it closed by holding on from within.

I cannot say what may take place during the summer months; but from October to May I have but rarely found one of these spiders ready to oppose me, though _Nemesia meridionalis_ and _N. Eleanora_ frequently did so. Many times, wishing to provoke them, I have tapped at the door in order to apprise the occupant of my arrival, or lifted it and let it fall again, and always in vain, though the spider was there, crouching at the bottom of her tube.

Indeed I can only recall six or eight instances in which this spider did hold down her door, and on three of these she was captured.

I will now relate what I saw on one of these occasions,[65] for there has been much speculation as to the manner in which the spider clings to the door and offers the determined resistance which is experienced.

[Footnote 65: Mrs. Boyle was the first to witness this curious sight, and my description of the resistance of the spider is almost an exact repetition of hers to me. It is curious also that, following her indications, I found the very nest and spider on which she had made her observations, and every detail recurred again though several days had elapsed between her visit and mine.]

No sooner had I gently touched the door with the point of a penknife than it was drawn slowly downwards, with a movement which reminded me of the tightening of a limpet on a sea-rock, so that the crown which at first projected a little way above, finally lay a little below the surface of the soil. I then contrived to raise the door very gradually, despite the strenuous efforts of the occupant, till at length I was just able to see into the nest, and to distinguish the spider holding on to the door with all her might, lying back downwards, with her fangs and all her claws driven into the silk lining of the under surface of the door. The body of the spider was placed across, and filled up, the tube, the head being away from the hinge, and she obtained an additional purchase in this way by blocking up the entrance.

I did not force the spider to release her hold, but, by a rapid stroke with a long-bladed knife, cut out the upper part of the tube with the surrounding mass of soil, and thus secured the trap-door and its owner. This specimen is represented at fig. C, Plate VIII., where the pin-point holes made by the claws may be seen in pairs round the whole circumference of the flatter portion of the lower surface of the door except on the side next to the hinge.

Whenever a spider resists in this way she must make these holes, but I have very rarely seen them in other nests; this may perhaps be accounted for by their having been effaced by the action of moisture which would stretch the silk. However this may be, this specimen showed the claw marks quite distinctly on my return to England after the lapse of several weeks.

Much has been written about these marks, which are frequently spoken of as holes purposely made in the silk in order to give the spider a better purchase. It has also been stated that two holes may be seen in the silk of the tube near the mouth on the side away from the hinge, but these I have never been able to find. The door of nest A in Plate VIII. is rather abnormal, as it is made up of two doors, the smaller one being spun into the top of the one now in use. This is, I believe, an abnormal and rather clumsy example of the ordinary way of enlarging the nest, but of this we shall see more when we come to speak of the construction and repairing of these nests generally.

Fig. B in this plate represents a moss-covered sod pierced by the tube of a nest, the door of which is entirely concealed from view, and only discovered when opened as at B 1.

This nest was found accidentally by Mr. Robert Lightbody, who kindly brought it to me, its presence having been betrayed by the tube, which he happened to cut through in digging up a plant. The moss on the door grew as vigorously, and had in every way the same appearance, as that which was rooted in the surrounding earth; and so perfect was the deception that I found it impossible to detect the position of the closed trap even when holding it in my hand. There can be no doubt that many nests escape observation in this way, and the artifice is the more surprising because there is strong reason to believe that this beautiful door-garden is deliberately planted with moss by the spider, and not the effect of a mere chance growth. I shall adduce evidence in support of this statement by-and-by.

I alluded to the nest C (Plate VIII.) when speaking of the claw marks which it exhibits, and that figured at D and D 1 in this plate is merely an instance of a good example of this type. I have taken nests of _N. cæmentaria_ both at Cannes and Mentone, and have little doubt that this species will be discovered at many points along the Riviera. I detected two abandoned nests of the cork type, which I fully expect had belonged to _N. cæmentaria_, in an enclosed space called the Campagne de Garonne in Marseilles itself. These nests lay in the little mound of undisturbed earth between the divided trunks of the small olive-trees, and I do not doubt that if I had had time to search I should have discovered more nests, and perhaps others which were still tenanted.

We now turn from the single-door nests to those with double doors, and from the well known to the new types of structure.

In these we have a thin and wafer-like door at the mouth of the nest, and from two to four inches lower down, a second and solid underground door. These lower doors are characteristic of the nests to which they belong, that of the branched nest (_Nemesia meridionalis_, Plate IX.) being long and more or less tongue-shaped, while that of the unbranched double-door nest (_N. Eleanora_, Plate XII. p. 106) is somewhat horse-shoe shaped.

The surface doors of these two kinds of nest do not appear to differ, and, though rather thinner, may be compared to those of the single-door wafer kind from Jamaica.

The commonest form at Mentone is the branched nest, which may be found in abundance in many of the loosely-built walls of the lemon and olive terraces or on sloping banks, but they are rarely to be met with on flat ground.

In the nests of _Nemesia meridionalis_ the tube, instead of being simple, as it is in all other known nests, is invariably branched, a second tube joining the first at the point where the lower door is hung and forming with it an angle of about 45°. The main tube descends and is frequently curved, or sometimes doubly bent like the spout of a tea-kettle (A, Plate X. p. 100), while the branch ascends, and in some few instances reaches the surface, though it is usually a _cul de sac_ (Plate IX.)

In the exceptional cases where the nests have two superficial openings, one of the two surface doors always appears neglected and going to decay, or is covered with earth which chokes the upper part of its tube. The explanation of this probably is that the spider found the original entrance blocked up or in some way unfitted for use, and then prolonged what was the blind branch until it reached the surface and replaced the former doorway. However this may be it is certain that in the great majority of nests it will be found that the branch ends in the earth, and is a _cul de sac_, and this I have invariably observed to be the case in the nests of very young spiders of this species (fig. B, Plate IX.)

The tube is frequently enlarged at the mouth, and forms a spreading lip which the surface door is usually large enough to cover (A 1, Plate IX.)

In these branched double-door nests the upper door does not fit into, but merely lies upon, the mouth of the tube, the elasticity of the hinge and its own weight being sufficient to keep it closed. The lower door is suspended by a hinge placed at the apex of the angle formed by the bifurcation of the tube, and is hung in such a manner that it can either be pushed upwards so as to lie diagonally across and block the main tube, or be drawn back so as to fit into and close the entrance to the branch.

This will, I think, best be understood by reference to the drawings of a small nest of this type given at B 1 and B 2 in Plate XI. p. 105, where the second door is shown in its two positions. This lower door is from 1 to 1-1/2 lines thick, channeled above, but nearly flat on the back, and of an elliptic form, with a loose appendage at its lower end, the whole being made of earth enclosed in a case of silk.[66] When the lower door is drawn back so as to close and conceal the entrance to the branch, it lies in the same plane, and closely corresponds in curvature with the lining of the main tube and almost appears to form part of it (fig. A, Plate X. p. 100, and fig. B 1, Plate XI. p. 105).

[Footnote 66: Since writing the above I have learned, thanks to a better method which I have recently adopted for preserving the nests for examination, that sometimes the lower door, instead of being free within the tube and only attached to the lining by the hinge, is surrounded on either side by a delicate silk web, which extends from either edge of its lower surface to the silk walls of the tube below and forms a sort of double gusset. This admits of the movement of the lower door in the way described above, but perhaps serves, together with the solid appendage at the extremity of the free end of the door (that away from the hinge), to prevent the door from being driven too far in an upward direction and thus becoming so tightly jammed as to make the spider a prisoner in her own nest. I think it possible that the lower door is always attached to the tube in this way, but, as it parts readily from the silk on either side when the earth which supports the tube is removed, it very frequently appears to be free, as I have represented it in Plates IX., X., and XI.]

When digging out these nests, after carefully removing the upper portion, I have frequently seen the lower door move across and block up the main tube in a mysterious manner, it being in reality pushed by the spider from below, and she may sometimes be captured at her post with her back set against the door. More frequently, when the spider finds that resistance is hopeless and sees the earth crumbling in, she drops to the bottom of her nest and lies there helpless, with her legs folded against her body like an embryonic creature; some, however, more savage than their neighbours, fly out and strike at the intruder with their fangs.

What then, it may be asked, is the use of the branch? I do not think that we can draw any safe conclusion from what takes place when we dig out a spider, as to what would occur if she were besieged by one of her natural enemies, such as ichneumons, sand-wasps, centipedes (_Scolopendra_), small lizards &c.[67]

[Footnote 67: For some account of the principal enemies of spiders generally, see p. 134.]

Let us suppose, however, that one of these creatures has found its way into the nest and is crawling down the tube. What will probably happen? Why, in the first place, the spider will slam the second door in the face of the intruder, and then, if worsted in the pushing match which follows, quickly draw this door back again and run up into the safety branch, when the enemy, after descending precipitately to the bottom of the main tube, will look in vain for the spider as it searches on its way up for the secret passage now closed by its trap-door. This is but a purely imaginary case, and it may be that the branch has some wholly different purpose.

It seems very improbable, however, that it should be mainly intended as a safety place for the eggs or offspring; at least if this were the case we should not expect to find it, as we do, in the nests of very young spiders (fig. B, Plate IX.), which could have no use for it.

The large spider and its nest figured at A and A 3 in Plate IX. were taken at Mentone on March 17, 1872, and the following is the technical description of the species, written by Mr. Pickard-Cambridge:--

Nemesia Meridionalis. Plate IX.

Syn. _Mygale meridionalis_ (Costa). _Fauna del Regno di Napoli_, p. 14, Pl. I., figs. 1-4, ad partem.

Female adult, length 11 to 13 lines.

This spider is very nearly allied to _N. cæmentaria_ both in general structure and colours, but it may be distinguished by the more elongate form both of the cephalothorax and abdomen; the colours also of the present species are more distinctly distributed; a well-defined narrow marginal band, irregular on the inside, surrounds the thorax; and the caput has a large curved patch of the same on either side of the ocular area, with a broad tapering band tinged with orange, which runs from immediately behind the eyes to the thoracic junction, where it ends in a point. The transverse diameter of the ocular area is also less in proportion to its longitudinal diameter than in _N. cæmentaria_, and the eyes are all smaller, but placed on a similar oval eminence, and several bristles are directed forwards from the middle of the lower margin of the clypeus, while one or two others are found in the ocular area, and three or four more (long, strong, and nearly erect) form a longitudinal row along the middle of the central tapering thoracic band. The _Falces_ are deeply yellow-brown, with two to three elongate oval patches or short longitudinal parallel bands on their upper sides; in their armature the falces are similar to those of _N. cæmentaria_. The _Labium_ appeared to be less broad in proportion to its height, and the _Sternum_ smaller and of a more oval form than in that species. The _Abdomen_ is similarly marked, though the chocolate-brown markings appeared to be less deep and dense, being more broken up, but still forming several fairly defined, bold, and broad angular bars or chevrons on the upper side. The inferior spinners, though small (like most of the corresponding pair in species of this family), are yet considerably stronger than in _N. cæmentaria_.

Adult females of this spider were found in tubular silk-lined holes in the earth, closed at the external orifice with a flat scale-like hinged lid, covered with lichens and mosses. Not quite half way down this tube is a tubular branch running off upwards at an angle of 45° or less; the main tube also at this point is furnished with an elliptical-hinged valve, with which the spider appears to have the power to close the entrance to the branch or to shut off the upper part of the main tube. This branch (found also in the tubes of very young examples) seems to be certainly a strong distinguishing character in the economy of the species, and separates it at once from _N. cæmentaria_. In the nest of _N. meridionalis_ the tube also projects at times above the surface of the soil upwards among the herbage which serves to conceal it. Costa appears to have had before him this latter species as well as what is here taken as the typical _N. meridionalis_, as he speaks of the nests under his observation as being frequently branched, while his description would suit both species; his figure, however, more nearly agrees in the thoracic pattern with the spider above described. Ausserer, in his elaborate paper on the Mygalides, lately published (_Beiträge_ &c. vide supra), appears to have overlooked _M. meridionalis_ (Costa) altogether; while Canestrini and Pavesi (_Catal. degli Araneidi italiani_ in _Atti Soc. Ital. Sc. Nat._ xi. (1869)), p. 25, include it under the synonyms of _M. fodiens_ Walck., from which it is undoubtedly distinct, as may be seen at once, even if it were only by the difference in the form and structure of the lid with which the external orifice of the tubular nest is closed.

In the case of the upper door of these branched nests, as there is but a very thin coating of earth on their upper surface, it is rare to find any of the larger mosses or lichens growing upon them; but, as if to compensate for this deficiency, a variety of foreign materials are employed which are scarcely ever found in cork doors, such as dead leaves, bits of stick, roots, straw of grasses, &c., and I have even seen freshly-cut green leaves, apparently gathered for the purpose, spun into a door which had recently been constructed.

But here again there is the widest possible difference between nest and nest in the degree of perfection in their concealment; and, although as a rule the surface of the upper door harmonizes well with the general appearance of its surroundings, there are some individual nests in which it readily catches the eye and even attracts attention.

Thus, I have seen nests in mossy banks where the doors, being made of nothing but earth and silk, showed distinctly as brown patches against the green; and those doors which are covered with earth only, even when they are surrounded by earth, are often easily detected, because when they dry up, as they quickly do, they become much paler in colour than the earth of the bank, which retains its moisture.

Perhaps in no case is the concealment more complete than when dead leaves are employed to cover the door. In some cases a single withered olive leaf only is spun in and suffices to cover the trap; in others, several are woven together with bits of wood and roots, as in the accompanying woodcut, which represents different views of the upper door of the nest which is drawn in Plate X. p. 100.

In this nest another interesting feature presents itself, for here the tube projects a short way beyond the surface of the ground and is hardened and coated with earth and fine gravel in such a way that it requires no other support. This is not commonly the case, and may perhaps be the result of a contrivance to meet the necessities of a nest which has had the surface earth washed away from it. But I have frequently observed nests in which the upper part of the tube is carried up for two or three inches through grass, moss, ferns, pellitory, or the like, the stems of the sheltering plants being interwoven with and made to support the tube.[68] In every case the second door, which is designed for resistance and requires a firm-walled tube into which it may be wedged, is below ground, and for the same reason we scarcely ever find cork nests constructed with any part of the tube projecting beyond the surface of the soil.

[Footnote 68: This aërial portion of the tube corresponds with that of _Atypus piceus_ described above (p. 78), but differs in having its aperture closed by a door.]

At fig. A, Plate XI., one of these branched nests is seen concealed in a plant of ceterach fern, and here the tube is raised a short way above the soil; while in fig. B of the same plate the common form is represented, the upper door lying flat on the surface of the ground, from which, thanks to its covering of small mosses, it is scarcely to be distinguished.

The figs. B 1 and B 2 show this door open and the lower door in its two positions.

Now that attention has been drawn to the existence of this new type of nest, I fully expect that _Nemesia meridionalis_ will be found at many points along the Riviera and in the whole Mediterranean region, but I have hitherto only discovered it at Mentone and Cannes. Mrs. Boyle saw one of these nests in the Pallavicini gardens near Genoa, and there seems every reason to believe that certain nests which have been detected near Naples and in Ischia, will, when better known, be found to be of the branched double-door type.

It seems probable that our spider belongs to the species which was first described by M. Costa,[69] under the name of _Mygale meridionalis_, though, if we are to rely implicitly on the figures and detailed account given by this naturalist, we must suppose that it constructs a different nest in Southern Italy from that which it makes on the Riviera, and one which, although it agrees in most other respects, is destitute of the characteristic subterranean door.

[Footnote 69: Fauna del Regno di Napoli, (vol. containing _Animali Articolati_, classe ii. Aracnidi: incomplete, Naples, 1861), p. 14, tab. i. figs. 1-4. See Appendix A.]

It is more likely, however, that M. Costa has overlooked the existence of the lower door, though it is strange that he should have done so, as he says that the nests "sometimes have a double aperture, and the upper portions of the burrows meet and anastomose at about two inches distance," thus showing that he was aware that the tube is branched.

One more nest only now remains to be described, and this is again an example of a new type--namely, of that which I have distinguished as the unbranched double door (Plate XII.), the work of _Nemesia Eleanora_. This nest is never branched, and its second and subterranean door is situated from one to four inches below the surface door, and only serves to close the one tube which is narrowed above the insertion of this lower door. Here, as in the branched nest, the thin and wafer-like surface door appears to serve principally for concealment and the lower one for resistance. This latter, made out of earth encased in strong white silk, is from one to two lines thick, and has, at the end away from the hinge, a similar appendage to that found in the lower door of the branched nest. This appendage serves, I imagine, as a kind of ear by which the door, when firmly jammed into the tube on the approach of an enemy, may be pulled down again as soon as the alarm is over. As in the branched nest it has the upper surface concave and the lower slightly rounded, so that when drawn back and not in use it may not obstruct the passage. The sides of this lower door slope a little, so that the crown is smaller than the base; and this is important, because it causes the door to fit more tightly when driven upwards into the tube, acting on the principle of an inverted cork door.

In form this door is somewhat elliptic, but much broader and shorter than the second door of the branched nest, and it is frequently of a nearly horse-shoe shaped outline. The second door of the branched nest is necessarily longer, having to perform the double function of closing the opening to the branch and the passage of the main tube.

In either case, however, these doors will be found to be more or less elliptic, and this is necessarily so, for, lying as they do when in use in a plane which cuts the subcylindrical tube obliquely, they have to fill a somewhat elliptical area.[70]

[Footnote 70: The lower door here, as in the branched nest (see above, p. 100), is sometimes united to the silk of the tube below by two nearly triangular gussets of silk, when, instead of being free except at the hinge, as I have represented it (Plate XII.), it is surrounded on either side by silk and only free at the extremity away from the hinge. This does not, however, alter the function of this door in any way.

It may be that these lower doors are always attached from below in this way, but it is very difficult to be sure of this, as they readily break away from the surrounding silk, when they appear quite free, as in my drawing. It was not until I adopted the plan of stuffing the tube full of cotton wool before removing the surrounding earth that I detected this fragile attachment.]

I have observed some variation as to the exact proportions of these doors, and it is quite possible that in many cases they are specially adapted to meet peculiarities in the curvature of the tube.

The nest and spider drawn at figs. A and A 3 of Plate XII. were first discovered by the Honourable Mrs. Richard Boyle at Mentone, on March 26th, 1872, and the following is the description of the species kindly prepared by Mr. Pickard-Cambridge:--

Nemesia Eleanora, sp. nov. Plate XII.

Female adult, length 11 to 12 lines.

This spider, which has (like _N. meridionalis_) probably been confused with its near ally _N. cæmentaria_, is yet easily distinguished from both by its deeper and richer colouring, as well as by other characters.

The _Abdomen_ has a far more spotted appearance; in some examples a similar series of dark, broken, slightly angular bars is indistinctly visible on the hinder half of the upper side; in others (the more common type) the darker colouring preponderates, and some transverse, broken, slightly angular, or nearly curved bars or lines of pale spots constitute the pattern; the lateral margins of the thorax are not so distinctly yellow as in _N. meridionalis_, and there is a single longitudinal stripe on the caput, of a dull orange-yellow brown, commencing directly behind the eyes and tapering to the thoracic junction; the depression or pit at this point is more strongly marked than in either of the two foregoing species; the ocular area is also smaller, and its transverse diameter is less in proportion to its width; the bristles on the margin of the clypeus, as also those within the ocular area and in the central longitudinal line of the caput, are similarly disposed to those in _N. meridionalis_, but are more numerous; in some details, however, of form and structure--viz., the Labium and Sternum--the present species is more nearly allied to _N. meridionalis_ than to _N. cæmentaria_. The _Legs_ seemed to be rather longer and stronger than in either; the tarsi and metatarsi of the two first pairs, as well as the digital joints of the palpi, are rather densely clothed a little underneath on their outer sides with a kind of fringe or pad of close-set hairs; in other respects the armature of the legs appeared to be similar to that of the other two species, except that in the present one there are three _short strong red-brown spines in a longitudinal row on the outer sides of the genual joints of the third pair_; these spines were plainly visible in all the examples found, but did not exist in any one of those of the two former species. The armature of the falces, which are of a uniform yellow-brown colour, is similar to that of those species.

Adult females were found in tubular silk-lined unbranched holes, closed at the orifice with a flat scale-like hinged lid concealed by mosses and lichens, and having a horse-shoe shaped second valve or door less than half way down the tube, of which it serves to shut off the upper part. In this nest, as in that of _N. meridionalis_, the upper part of the tube often projects above the surface of the soil.

Since the above description of the female of this species was written, an example of the adult male has been most opportunely discovered. It is much smaller than the female, its length being only six lines. The _Cephalothorax_ is of an uniform clear yellow-brown colour, tinged with orange, and thinly clothed with a greyish pubescence: the oblique indentations marking the union of the cephalic and thoracic segments are indicated by a strongish black-brown band on either side, which becomes obsolete as each approaches the other near the central curved indentation; there are also two or three converging suffused blackish stripes on the hinder slope. The relative length of the _Legs_ is the same in both sexes, 4, 1, 2, 3, but in the male those of the fourth are longer in proportion to those of the third pair than in the female; the spines also on the legs are more numerous and stronger, the upper sides of the femora of all the legs are deeply suffused with black, while in the female this suffusion is not nearly of so marked a character, though the genua of the different females examined had a strong brown-black macula on the outer side of each, while the corresponding maculæ in the single male examined were but just visible; the three spines observed on the outer side of the genua of the third pair of legs in the female are of even a more marked character in the male, and hence they may be considered a good and tangible specific difference from other nearly allied species; the tibiæ of the first pair are considerably enlarged on the under side at the fore extremity, where each is armed with a single, longish, strong, slightly curved, pointed black spine directed forwards (fig. _a_, 3). The _Abdomen_ is small and of an oval form; its colours and markings resemble those of the female, but on the hinder half of the upper side two or three indistinctly traced pale angular bars or chevrons are formed by the distribution of the black-brown colours and markings; the under side of the abdomen is of a uniform pale whitish yellow, except the spiracular plates, which are yellow-brown. The _Palpi_ are moderately long and strong; the radial joint is longer than the cubital, and is of a tumid and somewhat oval form, suffused over most of its surface with dark brown, the rest of the palpus being of a yellowish-brown colour; the digital joint is small and somewhat oblong-oval, curved downwards, and very slightly concave on its inside; the palpal organs consist of a nearly globular, basal, corneous bulb prolonged into a strongish, curved, but not very long, pear-stem form, the stem being distinctly cleft or bifid at its extreme point (_vide_ figs. _a_ 1, and _a_ 2), one portion of the bifid part is larger than the other, though both are equal in length, and the stem of the palpal bulb is directed transversely outwards, almost at right angles with the digital joint.

Until the discovery of the male spider now described, and which is, without doubt, the male sex of the female described immediately before, this latter was thought to be the female of _Nemesia Manderstjernæ_ (Ausserer), and it had indeed been so determined by Professor Ausserer himself. But the form of the palpal organs differs so decidedly from those of _N. Manderstjernæ_ (Ausserer, _Beiträge ... der Territelariæ, Verhandl. Z. B. Gesllsch_: Wien, 1871, Bd. xxi. p. 170), that all doubts as to the present being a distinct (and as it is believed to be) a hitherto undescribed species, are removed. From M. Ausserer's description, the pear shaped stem of the palpal bulb in _N. Manderstjernæ_ is comparatively slender, ending in a fine and uncleft point, whereas, in _N. Eleanora_, the stem is strong and its extremity cleft: other differences are also observable in the two spiders, but this one is well marked and the most tangible.

The specific name, _Eleanora_, now conferred upon the species, is taken from the Christian name of the Hon. Mrs. Boyle, reference to whom has been before made, and of whose kind exertions some acknowledgment is thus permanently recorded.

In fig. A, Plate XII., the upper door, which, if closed, would be entirely hidden by the long filmy mosses which surround and cover it, is represented open; but it should be clearly understood that this is artificial and not natural, as in reality these doors close of their own accord by means of their weight and the elasticity of the hinge. It will be seen that living mosses of two kinds are worked into the upper surface of this door, which was admirably concealed. (fig. A 1, Plate XII.).

It is chiefly in the absence of the branch and the different form of the lower door that the nest of _Nemesia Eleanora_ differs from that of _N. meridionalis_; and, as they inhabit the same localities, it is only when one has dug down as far as the lower door that it can be known to which of the two species the nest belongs. When once this point is reached however, all doubt is at an end; for in this case the unbranched double-door nest differs from the branched in a way which any child could realize, though the respective spiders are not very dissimilar when seen with the naked eye alone. This affords a good instance of the benefit which may accrue to a collector from a study of the habits of the creatures which he collects, for it is certain that it was the nest in this case which first proclaimed the distinctness of its tenant.

_Nemesia Eleanora_ is rather less common at Mentone than _N. meridionalis_, but at Cannes I found the reverse to be the case. At the latter place, on the northern slope of the little hill of St. Cassien, branched and unbranched double-door nests may, however, be found in tolerable abundance, the traps being frequently concealed by fallen leaves from the cork oaks, which are woven into their upper surface.

The nest of _N. Eleanora_ often has the upper part of the tube prolonged above the surface of the ground and carried up through mosses, grasses, and the like.

An example of this is seen in figs. B and B 1, Plate XII., in which the upper part of the tube is represented with the surface door open in the one case and shut in the other.

The concealment here was so complete that I should never have discovered the nest but for the merest accident. I happened to want some moss to lay with flowers in my botanical tin, and in one handful which I plucked up this trap-door lay concealed. It should be observed that the upper part of the tube and its surface door were covered with growing moss, and this moss must have lived exclusively upon the moisture which the very damp and shady situation afforded, as there was no earth mixed with the silk.

When digging out the nests of _N. Eleanora_, I have frequently seen the lower doors pushed forwards so as to close the tube; and it is my belief that the spider, after having thus barred the passage, puts her back against the door and resists in this way. I must own, however, that, though I believe I have seen the spider in this attitude when I have severed the tube from below, I am not quite certain about it.

I have twice in the months of April and May, and frequently in October and November, found young of this species in the nests with their mother. Usually they were all very small and not larger than that represented at fig. B 2, Plate IX., p. 98, but occasionally in October I have found two or three young spiders thrice the size of their companions still in the nest. On one occasion (in April) I found twenty-four small spiders clustered beneath and beside their mother.[71] I secured the whole family by quickly cutting out the mass of earth containing the lower door on the under side of which they remained crouched, and brought them home alive. I had up to this time been in the habit of killing the spiders by placing them in a stopper bottle full of strong spirit of wine, but on treating these spiders in this way I saw reason to regret having done so. I knew that these large spiders, when thrown into spirit of wine, would continue to struggle for an hour or more, spasmodically spreading out their legs as if swimming; but I had supposed that this was only muscular motion, and was not in the least aware that the unfortunate creatures were probably conscious all the while. In this instance I first placed the mother spider in the bottle, and then, after the lapse of about ten minutes, when I supposed that the spider, though still struggling, was dead to sense, I dropped in the young spiders. No sooner, however, had I done this than the mother, perceiving them, gathered all her young to her, and, after placing them beneath her, with her legs drawn up round them, as a hen screens her chickens with her wings, never stirred again, and retained this attitude until death released her, and the limbs, no longer under the control of this wonderful maternal resolution, slackened and fell abroad.[72]

[Footnote 71: I have found similar families in October and November in the nests of _N. meridionalis_, only all the young were of nearly uniform size, and very small. On November 21 I dug out a mother spider of this species (_meridionalis_) with forty-one little ones!]

[Footnote 72: My own impression is that this act was one of conscious protection on the part of the mother spider; but Mr. Pickard-Cambridge doubts this, and would attribute the action to the tendency which spiders commonly display to clutch at any material object when dying in this way.]

I need scarcely say that the small spiders were killed by the spirit in a very few instants, but it is almost certain that the mother was alive and conscious for half an hour. Now this pain can easily be spared by placing large spiders for about ten minutes in a closed box with a piece of cotton wool steeped in chloroform beside them, before dropping them into the spirit of wine, a system which I have since that day adopted and found to answer perfectly.

I examined these young spiders carefully, hoping to detect some males among them, but the males, though they differ markedly from the females when adult in their smaller size and curiously enlarged palpi, do not appear to afford any distinctive mark at this early period. It appeared that these spiders had been but recently hatched, for some among them were still semi-transparent.

I have never found young spiders in the nests of _Cteniza fodiens_ or _Nemesia cæmentaria_.

M. de Walckenaer[73] quotes a statement made by M. Rossi to the effect that _Cteniza fodiens_ carries its young on her back, as certain species of _Lycosa_ (Tarantula) do. He points out the interest which would attach to this observation if confirmed, as showing a similarity in habit between the two groups, which are otherwise nearly related.

[Footnote 73: Walckenaer (C. A. de), Les Aranéides de France (date?), p. 5.]

Observations of this kind are difficult to make satisfactorily, at least in the case of the trap-door spiders with which I am acquainted, and which appear to be nocturnal in their habits. I have certainly never seen them out of their nests in the daytime, and but rarely detected one of them (_Nemesia cæmentaria_) even venturing to peer out of her door set ajar for the purpose.[74]

[Footnote 74: M. Olivier, however, states (Encyclopédie Méthodique, tom xviii., p. 228, Art. Araignées Mineuses, Paris, 1811) that he has twice found nests in the islands off Hyères and on the promontory of St. Tropez the doors of which were set open in the daytime and the tube empty, this seeming to imply that the spiders were out hunting and were diurnal in their habits. He did not see the spiders, but from his description the nest was of the cork type.... Here is an interesting point, and one which those naturalists who make Hyères the field of their observations should endeavour to throw further light upon.]

The following very singular account is given by M. Erber[75] of the habits of _Cteniza ariana_, which he watched in the island of Tinos. I quote from the abstract given in the _Zoological Record_ cited below:--"At night these spiders come out of their nests, fasten the open trap-door to neighbouring objects, and spin a net, about six inches long by scarcely half an inch in height. In the morning the nets were removed, and Erber believes that the net of each night is added to the trap-door. He found eggs at the bottom of the tubes, attached singly to threads, to the number of about sixty. The young seem to form dwellings very early."

[Footnote 75: In Verhandlungen der k. k. zool. bot. Gesellschaft in Wien, vol. xviii. pp. 905, 906, quoted in _Zoological Record_, vol. v. p. 175 (1868); see also Appendix B.]

It would be very interesting to know whether these nocturnal habits are also found in our spiders on the Riviera.

I have been favoured[76] with a sight of an unpublished manuscript by Mr. Hansard giving an account of his observations on _Cteniza fodiens_, made in Corfu. This gentleman states that some of these spiders which he kept in captivity, used to come out at night, and might sometimes be surprised roaming about the room at a very early hour in the morning. He, however, relates that he had received from a friend an account of a trap-door spider inhabiting the island of Formosa, in the China seas, which constructed nests similar to those of _Cteniza fodiens_, but which were habitually to be seen outside their nests in the daytime, attracting attention by "staring at" any one who might approach, and then hurrying back to their nests and closing their doors after them.

[Footnote 76: I am indebted to Mr. Moseley for procuring this MS., and to Prof. Rolleston, whose property it is, for permission to make use of it.]

Lady Parker has also told me of some black trap-door spiders which were so common about Paramatta, near Sydney, in Australia, that scarcely any one paid attention to them, and which might habitually be seen out on the garden paths in the daytime near their holes, to which they would run in all haste when alarmed. The eye of the passer-by was attracted by the open doors, which were about the size of a sixpence, and fall over backwards when the spider makes her exit, but when closed, on her return, they fit so neatly that it is extremely difficult to detect them.

It will, perhaps, have been observed that I have throughout spoken of the female spider only, scarcely any allusion having been made to the male. The truth is that, though I have carefully searched for them, I have never been able to secure more than a single male spider.[77] During the winter, spring, and late autumn (October) the female appears to live solitary, in the daytime at least, and the male probably hides in the crevices of old walls and in similar places. I have diligently turned over piles of stone, greatly to the annoyance of many little scorpions, but have never secured, or even seen, another male spider. This is the more to be regretted as the species of trap-door spider are much better characterized in the male than in the female sex, the bulb-like enlargement which is found at the end of the palpi in the former taking on a great variety of forms, each of which is distinctive.

[Footnote 77: Three days before sending this MS. to print, and long after the plates had been completed, I captured on Oct. 23rd one male of _Nemesia Eleanora_. He lay crouched in a crevice in a mossy bank, and had, perhaps, been driven out of some deeper hiding-place by the heavy rains.]

M. de Walckenaer[78] says:--"C'est toujours pendant la nuit que ces aranéides travaillent à leurs habitations et courent après leur proie. C'est en Août que la Mygale maçonne (_Nemesia_--or _Mygale_--_cæmentaria_) atteint toute sa grosseur.... En Septembre elle devient mère et méchante en même temps ... les mouches, les moucherons, les petits vers lui servent de pâture; elle les prend dans les filets qu'elle étend et attache sur les inégalités des terres voisines de sa demeure. Elle vit après la ponte en société avec son mâle. Dorthès a vu plusieurs fois, dans la même habitation, le mâle et la femelle avec une trentaine de petits."

[Footnote 78: Les Aranéides de France, p. 4.]

Any one, therefore, who has an opportunity of examining the nests during the early autumn, might perhaps, discover the happy families spoken of by M. Dorthès, but which it has never been my good fortune to see. It is not known positively whether the male spider ever assists in the construction of the nest, but, as we know that the female is able to make it without his aid, there seems no reason to suppose that he does.

I have seen the female _Nemesia meridionalis_ construct a trap-door in captivity, after having been placed on a flower-pot full of earth in which I had made a cylindrical hole.[79] She quickly disappeared into this hole, and, during the night following the day of her capture, she made a thin web over the aperture, into which she wove any materials which came to hand. The trap-door at this stage resembled a rudely constructed, horizontal, geometrical web, attached by two or three threads to the earth at the mouth of the hole, while in this web were caught the bits of earth, roots, moss, leaves &c. which the spider had thrown into it from above. After the second night the door appeared nearly of the normal texture and thickness, but in no case would it open completely, and it seemed that the spider was too much disgusted with her quarters to think it worth while to make a perfect door. I believe that when a door is finished the few threads which served as supports and connected it with the earth on either side of the hinge are severed, and this is borne out by the following instance. While I was at work one evening drawing the spider's nest concealed in the plant of ceterach fern (Plate XI., fig. A, p. 105) which I had dug out for the purpose, I detected something moving at the mouth of a tiny hole [just large enough to admit a crowquill pen] in the mass of earth on the opposite side of the fern, to that in which the large trap-door lay.

[Footnote 79: An account of further experiments with captive spiders will be found in Appendix G.]

The lamp-light fell full upon it, and I soon saw that the moving object was a very small spider, not bigger than that drawn at B 2 in Plate IX., which was at work in the mouth of its tube. Whether I had, in removing this mass of earth, destroyed the door I cannot say, but it is certain that the opening of the tube was completely uncovered, and it soon became apparent that the little spider was intent upon remedying this deficiency. After a few threads had been spun from side to side of the tube I watched the spider make one or two hasty sorties, apparently spinning all the while, and finally I saw her gather up an armful, as it were, of earth and lay this on the web. After this the occupant of the tube was concealed, but I could see from the movement of the particles of earth that they were being consolidated, and that the weaving of the under surface of the door was being completed. Next morning I was able to lift up the door, which had the form of a small cup of silk, in which the earth lay. It was then soft and pliant, but in ten days time it had hardened and become a very fair specimen of a minute cork door (see figs. A 1, A 2, of Plate XI.).

On one occasion a captive _Nemesia meridionalis_ employed some pieces of scarlet braid which I had purposely strewed, along with bits of moss and fragments of leaves, in a circle round the opening of, and about two inches away from, the hole.

It is probable that these spiders have in times past learned by experience that they cannot do better than take such materials as come to hand, as these will ordinarily serve for the concealment of their door.

However, these trap-door spiders do seem to exercise some discrimination in the choice of materials; for I have observed several instances in which, when the door of a cork nest has been removed, if the door was originally covered with moss, moss will again be used in its reconstruction, even though the mouth of the tube be then surrounded by bare earth.

Thus, for example, in one case where I had cut out a little clod of mossy earth, about two inches thick and three square on the surface, containing the top of the tube and the moss-covered cork door of _N. cæmentaria_, I found, on revisiting the place six days later, that a new door had been made, and that the spider had mounted up to fetch moss from the undisturbed bank above, planting it in the earth which formed the crown of the door.[80] Here the moss actually called the eye to the trap, which lay in the little plain of brown earth made by my digging.

[Footnote 80: Mrs. Boyle first called my attention to this curious fact, of which I have since seen many examples. I have purposely removed several cork doors from mossy banks in order to observe this point.]

I have seen the same thing happen when the door of _N. Eleanora_ has been removed and replaced, moss being again used in the work of reconstruction. Trap-door spiders in warm weather very quickly replace their trap-doors; and if you pass by a wall where several nests have been robbed of their doors only a week before, they will usually be found quite perfect again.

It has been stated[81] that, if the door of a cork nest be fastened down with a pin, a second door will be found next day by the side of the former one. No doubt spiders not unfrequently find their doors blocked up by a fall of earth, and are thus obliged either to make a new opening or to prolong the old tube.

[Footnote 81: M. Dorthès on the Structure and Œconomy of some Curious Species of Aranea, in Trans. Linn. Soc. (London), II. 88-90.]

I once fastened open the surface doors of three of the double-door nests by passing a thread through the silk of the door and tying it back to some twigs above. The doors were thus turned backwards, and the aperture of the tubes, which lay in a vertical terrace wall, exposed to view.

Next day, after a night of very heavy rain, I found the doors as I had left them, but in one nest the lip of the tube had been dragged inwards so as partially to close the tube; in the second nothing appeared to have been done, but in the third nest a new covering had been very cleverly extemporized out of three fallen olive-leaves, which were loosely spun together and attached by one or two threads to the margin of the tube. This formed an admirable concealment, but did not move freely as a door, the web being too imperfect. Two days later, however, it was completed and had become a perfect door, moving on a hinge just within and below that of the former door, which still remained as I had fastened it. The other nests remained in the same condition as before, only that a little moss had been dragged into the mouth of the tube of the nest, which had been partially closed with its own lip.

The extreme reluctance which these spiders show to abandon their dwellings is curiously exemplified by what follows.

Certain nests which were furnished with two doors of the cork type were observed by Mr. S. S. Saunders[82] in the Ionian Islands. The door at the surface of these nests was normal in position and structure, but the lower one was placed at the very bottom of the nest and inverted, so that, though apparently intended to open downwards, it was permanently closed by the surrounding earth. The presence of a carefully constructed door in a situation which forbade the possibility of its ever being opened seemed, indeed, something difficult to account for. However, it occurred to Mr. Saunders that, as these nests were found in the cultivated ground round the roots of olive-trees, they may occasionally have got turned topsy-turvy when the soil was broken up. The spider then, finding her door buried below in the ground and the bottom of the tube at the surface, would have either to seek new quarters or to adapt the nest to its altered position, and make an opening and door at the exposed end. In order to try whether one of these spiders would do this Mr. Saunders placed a nest, with its occupant inside, upside down in a flower-pot. After the lapse of ten days a new door was made, exactly as he had conjectured it would be, and the nest presented two doors like those which he had found at first.

[Footnote 82: Description of a species of Mygale from Ionia in Trans. of Ent. Soc. (London, 1839), III. p. 160.]

There is a specimen of one of these inverted nests, with its two doors, in the British Museum, and this might easily be supposed, at first sight, to be an example of a new kind of double-door nest. On close inspection, however, it will be seen that one of the two doors is discoloured and partly decayed, this being, no doubt, the one which had been buried beneath in the earth and so rendered useless.

Questions have often been asked as to the manner in which trap-door nests are commenced in the first instance, and whether the weaving of the silk lining is begun at the top or the bottom of the tube.

The structure of the cork door also, which often appears so perfectly turned as to resemble the work of a potter's lathe, is another difficulty.

These questions have, as it seems to me, been needlessly complicated by taking it for granted that the perfect nest of the mature spider is made all at one time, that the tube, perhaps of a foot in length, is excavated, lined, and furnished with a door within some short period of time, such as ten days or a fortnight, perhaps.

On the contrary, I believe that the nests are, as a rule, the result of many successive enlargements, and that the nest of the infant, the tube of which is no bigger than a crowquill, is not abandoned, but becomes that of the full-grown spider. This must require time, but how long, whether months or years, we have yet to learn.

Very little is known at present as to the longevity of spiders, but Mr. Blackwall[83] says that some live only one year, while others, such as _Tegenaria civilis_ and _Segestria senoculata_, have been known to live four.

[Footnote 83: Spiders of Great Britain and Ireland, p. 8.]

Whether the trap-door spiders are very long lived or not I cannot positively say, but, from the appearance of the growth of moss and lichen on the doors of some nests which I have observed, I am inclined to think that they must have been inhabited for more than a twelvemonth.

Evidence of the enlargement of the door is not very rare to meet with, though, as a rule, the new piece is woven on to the old with such neatness as more or less to obscure this. In fig. B, Plate X., p. 100, the old and smaller surface-door of a nest of _Nemesia meridionalis_ is seen partially attached to the larger new door, which has been constructed below it; while in fig. C of the same plate, three doors, or rather three enlargements of one door, may be traced. It is this, I believe, that gives rise to the tiled appearance which these trap-doors sometimes present, and which has caused them to be compared to oyster-shells. Something similar may also be occasionally seen in doors of the cork type, as, for example, in that figured at A and A 1 in Plate VIII., p. 94, where the old and smaller door is seen partially raised above the surface of the new one. This I imagine to be merely an example of rather clumsy workmanship, as, if I am right, a full-sized cork door usually incloses within itself several lesser doors, which formerly fitted the tube and have had to be enlarged.

This is borne out by the fact that such a door will, on examination, be found to consist of several layers of silk, with more or less earth between each, these layers decreasing in size from without inwards, and together forming a sort of saucer in which the small central mass of earth lies. Thus by moistening a series of the cork doors of _Nemesia cæmentaria_, I have been able to detach, in one of medium size, from six to fourteen circular patches of silk, of which the outermost, or that which forms the lower surface of the door, is the largest, and the innermost the smallest, the others being intermediate in size as in position. Perhaps if I had had larger doors at my disposal for examination I might have found more layers, as other authors[84] speak of a much greater number of layers in the cork doors of _Cteniza fodiens_. Be this as it may, I am confirmed in my opinion that the layers of silk mark the successive enlargements of the nest by the additional fact that in very small doors the layers of silk are few or single, and that a proportion is observable as a rule between the size of the door and the number of layers of which it is composed.[85]

[Footnote 84: M. de Walckenaer seems to have found more than thirty alternate layers of silk and earth in one of the doors of _Cteniza fodiens_, as we may gather from the following:--"Quoique cette porte n'ait guère que trois lignes d'epaisseur, elle est formée par la superposition de plus de trente couches de terre séparées les unes des autres par autant de couches de toile. Toutes ces assises successives s'emboitent les unes dans les autres comme les poids de cuivre à l'usage de nos petites balances. Les couches de toile se terminent au pourtour de la porte." Walckenaer, Histoire des Insectes Aptères (Suites à Buffon), vol. i. p. 238 (Paris, 1837).

I have not found the regular layers of earth and silk of which M. de Walckenaer speaks, the silk layers being usually in contact at their centres and only separated by a little ring of earth interposed between their edges, this earth being thickest towards the circumference of the layers of silk.]

[Footnote 85: This may be seen by the comparison of the composition of doors of different sizes, given in Appendix H.]

Another proof that enlargement takes place, may at times be found in the nests of _N. Eleanora_, where one, or even two useless doors may be detected behind the lower door.

Now when there are three lower doors in this way the one which is in use is the largest, and the door lying nearest to this one the next in size, while the hindmost is the smallest of all. But though those abandoned doors are now too small to fit the existing tube, they did so, no doubt, in their day, for they are exact copies in miniature of the ordinary horse-shoe shaped lower doors. The lower door actually in use may sometimes be found to have two separable cases of thick silk enclosing the central mass of earth, and this also, very probably, represents enlargement. In the nests of _N. meridionalis_ I have never found any of these abandoned doors behind the one in use, nor should I expect to find any, for if they were present they would permanently obstruct the entrance from the main tube to the branch.

It is clear that it is better economy on the part of the spider to enlarge its nest rather than build a new one each time. If we compare the infant spider and its nest (fig. B, Plate IX., p. 98) with the full-grown creature and its nest (fig. A, Plate IX.), it becomes evident that the growing spider must either construct many nests of intermediate size, or frequently enlarge the original domicile. And we do in fact find nests of all sizes between the two extremes.

I cannot help thinking that these very small nests, built as they are by minute spiders probably not very long hatched from the egg, must rank among the most marvellous structures of the kind with which we are acquainted. That so young and weak a creature should be able to excavate a tube in the earth many times its own length, and know how to make a perfect miniature of the nest of its parents, seems to be a fact which has scarcely a parallel in nature.

When we remember how difficult a thing it is for even a trained draughtsman to reduce by eye a complicated drawing or model to a greatly diminished scale, we must own that the performance of this feat by a baby spider is so surprising as almost to exceed belief.

And yet even the most complicated form of nest--namely, that of the branched double-door type--is perfectly reproduced in miniature by these tiny architects, with the upper door, lower door, main tube, and branch (fig. B, Plate IX., p. 98).

In order to test whether the doors are enlarged or not I measured the surface doors of seven double-door nests and one minute cork door on April 30th, making a careful plan of the terrace wall in which they lay, in order to make sure of finding them again on my return to Mentone in October.

The following table will show that all were enlarged, the average rate of increase being 1-7/10 lines in the five and a half months which had elapsed:--

_Measured April 30, 1872._ | _Measured Oct. 18, 1872._ | No. I. 9 lines across | No. I. 10-1/2 lines across II. 4 " | II. 5-1/2 " III. 4-1/2 " | III. 5-1/2 " IV. 4 " | IV. 4-1/2 " V. 2 " | V. 3 " VI. 2-1/2 " | VI. missing VII. 1 " (the cork) | VII. 2 lines across VIII. 5 " | VIII. 7-1/2 "

We can scarcely venture from such limited premises to draw any precise conclusions, but if we suppose that during the entire course of the year the nests increase on an average by about four lines in diameter, and assume that the rate of growth continue the same, the nest of the infant spider, whose surface door measures scarcely a line across, would still require four years to attain the dimensions of some of the largest double-door nests, whose surface doors measure sixteen lines across.

It seems to be the rule with spiders generally that the offspring should leave the nest and construct dwellings for themselves when very young.

Mr. Blackwall,[86] speaking of British spiders, says:--"Complicated as the processes are by which these symmetrical nets are produced, nevertheless young spiders, acting under the influence of instinctive impulse, display, even in their first attempts to fabricate them, as consummate skill as the most experienced individuals."

[Footnote 86: Loc. cit., p. 11.]

Again, Mr. F. Pollock[87] relates of the young of _Epeira aurelia_, which he observed in Madeira, that when seven weeks old they made a web the size of a penny, and that these nets have the same beautiful symmetry as those of the full-grown spider. Those of the latter are vertical, circular, made of about 250 feet of thread, having about 35 radial lines and 38 concentric circles, the outermost of which is some 20 inches in diameter. After the lapse of a day or two the web loses its adhesive property and a new one is made. In about six months the female _Epeira_ has completed her ten changes of skin, one of which takes place in the cocoon, and "at the end of eight months the spider is 2700 times as heavy as at its birth." This _Epeira_ lives, we are told, for about eighteen months.

[Footnote 87: The History and Habits of _Epeira aurelia_, in Annals and Mag of Nat. Hist. for June, 1865.]

One can scarcely contemplate the work of these architects and weavers, and especially of the trap-door makers, without being carried away into the whirlpool of discussion which has so long raged round the word _instinct_.

Do the young spiders build their first nest by instinct--that is to say, independently of all teaching or personal experience--or do they copy the nests in which they were hatched?

What is wanting, however, is not discussion, of which we have had enough, but demonstration, and demonstration is hard to come by, depending as it must upon careful and repeated experiment.

If it were practicable, and I have no reason to know that it is not, to rear spiders from the egg away from the nest, and then to cause them to build in places where they should be perfectly at home and yet cut off from all communication with their kind, we might hope to learn whether they can construct the characteristic nests of their species without ever having seen one.

Mr. Wallace[88] shows that there is some reason to doubt whether birds, which are so frequently said to build by instinct, would, under parallel circumstances, construct the nest proper to their kind; and he states that birds brought up from the egg in cages do not do so, nor do they even sing their parents' song without being taught.

[Footnote 88: Chapters on Instinct and on the Philosophy of Birds' Nests, in his Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection.]

Of course we can scarcely compare birds and spiders together, but we should hesitate, in view of Mr. Wallace's expressed opinion as to the nest-building habits of the former, to assume that the latter are independent of teaching and personal experience. It may very possibly be so, but it has never been proved.

I have endeavoured to gather together all the published records of the nests of spiders belonging to the sub-order _Territelariæ_, with a view, if possible, to trace out the geographical range of the several types of structure. I have, however, met with but a small amount of success, and even among the limited number of tolerably complete accounts of nests which I have been able to discover, several made no mention of the spider to which the nest belongs.

Prof. Ausserer[89] has enumerated 215 species of _Territelariæ_ as having been found in the world at large, but of this large number ten only, as far as I have been able to learn, have been described in connexion with their nests, and eight of these belong to the Mediterranean region.[90] To these we may now add two more, namely, _Nemesia meridionalis_, with its branched double-door nest, and _N. Eleanora_ the builder of the unbranched double-door nest, thus making twelve in all.

[Footnote 89: In his monograph of _Territelariæ_ quoted above.]

[Footnote 90: I use this term in its widest sense, making it even include Morocco. A list of the species known to inhabit this region will be found in Appendix C.]

Three of the twelve, however, _Atypus piceus_, _A. Blackwallii_, and _Nemesia cellicola_,[91] do not appear to build true trap-doors, but only a simple silk tube without any covering at the mouth.

[Footnote 91: See Appendix A, p. 141.]

The following tabular view will show to which of the four types of trap-door nest those of the remaining nine spiders belong, and their geographical distribution:--

TRAP-DOOR SPIDERS WHICH BUILD

Nests of the cork type.

_Idiops syriacus_, Beirût.

_Cteniza fodiens (Ct. Sauvagei)_, Corsica, Pisa, Mentone.

_Ct. ædificatoria_, Tangiers.

_Ct. (Cyrtocarenum) ionicum_, Ionian Islands.

_Ct. (Cyrtocarenum) Ariana_, Naxos, Tinos.

_Nemesia cæmentaria_, South of France, Spain, Sardinia, Corsica, Sicily, Algiers, and the var. _germanica_ from Wippach, near Görz.

[Nests, apparently of the true cork type, have also been found in Australia, New Granada, India, and the island of Formosa, but their occupants are unknown.]

Nests of the single-door wafer type.

_Cteniza nidulans_, West Indies (and South America?)

Nests of the double-door branched type.

_Nemesia meridionalis_, Mentone, Cannes, and Sestri, near Genoa.

Nests of the double-door unbranched type.

_Nemesia Eleanora_, Mentone, and Cannes.

As far, therefore, as I know at present, the cork type of nest is the only one which is widely spread, and which is constructed by spiders of more than one species. For, while the single-door wafer, and the branched and unbranched double-door nests are each the work of one particular spider, we see that nests of the cork type are made by spiders of six distinct species, belonging to at least three genera.

It is almost certain that a much larger number of spiders of different kinds, though all probably members of the sub-order _Territelariæ_, construct nests of the cork type, for descriptions and specimens of trap-doors of this kind are brought from the most distant parts of the globe. It is true that these specimens and descriptions usually only show us the surface-door, but as far as our present knowledge goes, we are led to suppose that a door of the cork type is always associated with a simple tube, in which there is no trace of a second door or valve, so that, judging of the unknown by the known, we conclude that nests which possess the characteristic peculiarity of a true cork door are true cork nests in other respects also. Further research may possibly show that there are exceptions to this generalization, but I do not at present know of any.

I have seen Australian specimens of large trap-doors, of the cork type, measuring from one to two inches across. In some of these the doors were scarcely more than semicircular but very thick, and having their edges bevelled so as to correspond with the sloping margin of the tube;[92] in others, found at Paramatta, and described to me by Lady Parker as being tenanted by a black spider, the doors were said to be circular and much smaller, scarcely larger than a sixpence, and of the cork type.

[Footnote 92: Specimens of Australian nests may be seen in the cases at the British Museum.]

The upper portion of a nest from New Granada has been figured and described by M. Victor Audouin,[93] which closely resembles that drawn at Fig. A in Plate VII., p. 88, but the door is about a third larger.

[Footnote 93: Note sur la demeure d'une araignée maçonne de l'Amérique du Sud. Annales des Sciences Naturelles (Zoologie), tom. vii. tab. 3, p. 227-231.]

I have also been assured that nests of the cork type are found in many parts of India, and we have seen above that they are reported to be common in the island of Formosa.

Putting all this together, it will be seen that nests of this type are found all round the globe; in Formosa, India, Syria, the Grecian Archipelago, Italy, and the adjacent islands, Trieste, South France, Spain, Morocco, New Granada, and Australia; while the single-door wafer nest is only known at present in the West India islands;[94] the branched double-door nest at Mentone, Cannes, and Pegli near Genoa, and [doubtfully] near Naples and in Ischia; and the unbranched double-door type at Mentone and Cannes alone. It is quite probable that these three latter forms of nest will some day be found to have a much wider range than that assigned to them here, but I can scarcely think it likely that they will ever be shown to claim the world-wide distribution of the cork type. Supposing that these nests are eventually discovered in many widely distant localities, a very interesting question will arise as to the specific characters of the spiders which inhabit and construct them. Shall we then find, for example, that nests of the unbranched double-door type are not tenanted and fabricated by _Nemesia Eleanora_ alone, as we have hitherto found to be the case, but by many other distinct species also, each in its peculiar district?

[Footnote 94: There is a nest exhibited in the Museum collection at the Jardin des Plantes at Paris, marked "Amérique du Sud," which is perhaps of this type.]

That is to say, will the type of nest remain the same while the occupants vary, as in the cork nests?

If, on the other hand, we learn that these three types, the single-door wafer, the branched and unbranched double-door nests, are very local, we shall be led to inquire into the probable causes of this limitation.

But we must study much more closely the habits of these trap-door spiders, and the difficulties and dangers to which they are exposed, if we wish to appreciate fully the true meaning and intention of the structure of their nests, and to find the clue to the difficult question why one type should be more frequently adopted than another. Above all, we must discover what are their enemies, and how and when they are most exposed to them. M. de Walckenaer gives an entertaining account[95] of the enemies to which spiders generally are exposed, and of this the following list is an abstract.

[Footnote 95: Histoire des Insectes Aptères (Suites à Buffon), vol. i. p. 172-7.]

Many kinds of monkeys, squirrels, and several sorts of birds, as well as lizards, tortoises, frogs, and toads prey upon spiders. A species of black sheep, found in the steppes of Asiatic Russia, unearths the tarantulas (Lycosa), and eats them. ("Une espèce de brebis noire, dans les steppes de la Russie asiatique, déterre les tarentules et les mange"). In the East India Archipelago there is an entire genus of birds of the passerine order, which have been named "Arachnoptères" because the different species of which it is composed live exclusively on spiders. Besides these, the centipede (_Scolopendra_), and the following Hymenopterous insects, _Philanthes_, _Sphex_, _Pompilus_, _Pimpla Ovivora_, and _P. Arachnitor_ [which last lay their eggs in the eggs of spiders], carry on perpetual hostilities against them.

I have seen it stated that ants are among the worst enemies of spiders, driving their galleries through the silk tubes of the latter and devouring their eggs. Of this I have never seen any trace, and, on the contrary, have on four occasions found the remains of ants' bodies at the bottom of the trap-door spiders' nests.

I have but seldom detected any refuse in these nests, and this accords with what M. Erber tells us[96] of the care with which _Cteniza Ariana_, which he watched by moonlight in the island of Tinos, carried away the empty bodies of the beetles, the juices of which had been sucked out, to a distance of some feet from its hole. In October, 1872, however, I found a black layer of débris at the bottom of five nests of _Nemesia Eleanora_, and this was composed principally of the remains of insects, and among others of some rather large beetles.

[Footnote 96: A translation of these very interesting observations will be found below in Appendix B.]

As far as I am aware, M. Erber is the only naturalist who has ever placed any detailed observations on record as to the nocturnal habits of a trap-door spider in its native haunts; and we may learn from him how we should watch these creatures, if we wish to discover the manner in which they take their prey, and of what their prey consists.

He relates how he witnessed the capture, in the long low snare which _Cteniza Ariana_ spreads close to the ground, of two strong, night-flying beetles (_Pimelia_ and _Cephalostenus_), and how these were at once devoured, and their horny coats thrown away.

More observations of this kind are greatly wanted, as it is most important that we should know what are the principal sources of food upon which these spiders depend for their existence.

If we could answer the questions, what do they eat? and what do they fear? we should have advanced a long way towards resolving the larger problem as to the causes which limit particular species to certain districts.

I greatly envy those who are able to travel, and who have it in their power to investigate the habits of these creatures at several widely separated points; for there seems every probability that other new types of nest remain to be detected in warm climates, some of which may perhaps exceed those we have been here studying in beauty of workmanship and adaptation; it is at least certain that an abundant harvest of interesting facts in the life history of trap-door spiders remains yet to be gathered in.

Indeed it appears to me that we are only on the threshold of discoveries of this kind, and that the materials brought together in the preceding pages may be considered as but a small sample of what may be collected on the outermost edge of this great domain.

I shall be satisfied if I have been able in the present little work, to hold the door sufficiently ajar to permit those who love nature and her ways to catch a glimpse of the wonders and beauties of the untrodden land that lies beyond.

APPENDIX.

A.

_Nemesia (Mygale) meridionalis_, Costa.[97]

[Footnote 97: Costa, Fauna del Regno di Napoli, Aracnidi (1861), p. 14, tab. i. figs. 1-4. [Translation.]]

"M. fusco rufoque-flavicante, maculis obscurioribus, thorace radiatim, abdomine seriatim dispositis, subtus thorace rufescente, abdomine flavidulo, mandibulis spinarum serie unica, tarsis omnibus spinulosis."

"The cephalothorax oval, elongated and truncate in front, while the head is smooth and bare, with a group of eight eyes, a little keeled in the middle; of a fulvous-brown colour, with ten rather dusky spots arranged in rays, and corresponding to the direction of the eight legs (anche) and the two maxillæ. The mandibles are large, horizontal at first, then curved downwards, making a quarter of a circle, furnished with numerous hairs, especially on the inner side, and at the anterior extremity above there are mobile and rather long spines; below they are channelled, with six little teeth or spines on the edge (rilievo) of the inner face, clothed with many bristling hairs, with which the outside is also covered, but without any teeth; on the inner face they are flattened, so that they fit perfectly close. The fang is strong, curved, acute, and black. The maxillæ are clothed with brown hairs almost as the legs are, and at their extremity, on the outer side, stand the long palpi, rather hairy (pelacciuti), terminated by a very short and simple little claw. The sternal lip is very small and round. The abdomen oval, longer or shorter according to age, dusky ash in colour, spotted with brown, and covered with short and depressed (rasicci) hairs. The brown spots are disposed in slanting lines, placed obliquely to the median line, which is also brown; below it is somewhat lighter, and becomes slightly yellow, increasingly so in the female as pregnancy advances. The pulmonal sacs are always pale yellow, and involved in the fold (tramezzati dalla ripiegatura). Between these, and within the fold itself, the female sexual organ opens, consisting of a transverse opening invisible to the naked eye, but clearly seen on using a lens and removing the fold under which it is concealed, by means of the point of a scalpel or of a pin. The posterior extremity of the anus presents four spinnerets, of which the two upper are much the longer, and composed of four easily seen joints, the lower very short. The feet are moderate, and the longest are of the length of the entire body when this is fully developed (quando è perfettamente sviluppato); of these the fourth pair are about a third longer than the first, the third of about the same length as the second, which is the shortest of all. The tarsi of these are armed with two small curved claws, and the third and fourth joint with many long, delicate, straight, and mobile spines, which in the first pair become fewer as they approach the last joint. The eyes are arranged in three lines, as they are represented in C, Plate I., Fig. 3, and of these the two last of the posterior line are white and glistening, the others brown.

"Our _Mygale_ lives in tubular cavities, or burrows, which she excavates for herself in loose and friable soil, in walls made of volcanic earth, in shady places, and for the most part turned to the north or to the west, seldom to the south--hence cool and rather damp. The burrows do not exceed the length of a palm, eight lines at their widest part. For about the length of an inch the tube is funnel shaped, thence it continues of a nearly uniform magnitude. Its first direction is almost horizontal, then it rises continually, turning to the right or left, and sometimes makes zigzags. As the tubes are excavated in friable soil, she takes care to tapestry them inside with the same glutinous material of which the other races make their web, by means of which the burrows are made smooth on the inside, and to strengthen them in such a manner that even when the outer earthy part has become cracked, or been torn away by the action of the rain, they remain firm and fit to conceal their inhabitant. I have often found the tubes of web thus left exposed, as they are represented in Plate I., Fig. 4, situated in the cement of a wall, and among _Lycopodium denticulatum_, _Adiantum Capillus-Veneris_, _Marchantia polymorpha_, and other small plants. And it seems that the animal, perceiving the nature of the soil, takes care to reinforce the silken case, so much the more as she finds the earth less firm, and _vice versâ_. So that in burrows excavated in solid ground, with the exception of a little space close to the aperture, the nest is merely smoothed and daubed; while sometimes the spider constructs a tube so strong that it supports itself even when deprived of all the earth, the animal having had the foresight to attach it along the course of the clefts of the rock, or to the cement of the pieces of tufa in the wall, as represented in Plate I. They have often also a double aperture, and the upper portions of the burrows converging, meet and anastomose at about two inches distance. The aperture is closed by a little door or valve (_a_), which, having its hinge in the upper part and a little on one side, falls by its own weight, and fits itself exactly to the opening. The outer surface of the wicket is covered with earth, cemented by the glue of the spider, so that it is rendered imperceptible to common eyes, and the industrious little creature takes care to leave around the aperture a kind of rim, to which the door fitting closely, leaves no passage for any animal, nor does it show its edges. At the bottom of its tube the creature keeps her numerous offspring, and always stands herself as sentinel at the door, holding the wicket raised by means of the four anterior feet, and the palpi, curved extremities of which she inserts between the rim of the tube and of the door, as represented in _a' f_. Sometimes, however, they do not appear, but she leaves only the chink for observation, as one sees in _a_ of the same figure. Fig. 2, at _c_, represents the aperture of an abandoned burrow, and at _d_ the raised door of another burrow, with its almost funnel-shaped aperture. That which Sauvage, Olivier, and Latreille relate of her is not true--namely, that she remains at the bottom of the burrow, and runs to the door only when she sees it threatened, in order to keep the door firmly closed. On the contrary, always standing at the door as sentinel, she leaves it as soon as she thinks it in danger, so that it can be raised without the least effort: but if you hold it a little raised without making any sign of movement, she turns on her back, and comes out to draw it down with her feet, making all the efforts she can to conquer the obstacle. But if you take it away entirely, she turns down the edges to close the aperture as best she can, and that she does hurriedly, without waiting for night. The light seems to offend her so much that, if exposed to the full day, she remains so stupefied as to appear dead, nor does she move even if shaken; on the contrary, she constantly stops still and holds herself with her feet pressed against her body. At last, if very much disturbed, she runs quickly for some distance, till she finds a place in which to hide her head, and from thence she does not stir. I have observed that the burrows are always short when the aperture is small, and increase in length as they augment in diameter, which makes me conclude that it is not true that they begin their excavations from the base of the mother's tube, where I have never found any communication with others. This spider is found in the neighbourhood of Naples (ne' contorni della Capitale), on the Camaldoli, in the island of Ischia, where it lives near the sources of mineral waters, in Gaeta at the foot of the olive trees, among the stones in the ground, &c. &c.

"Observation. The difference which distinguishes our _Mygale_ from the _Sauvagesii_ consists, first, in the toothing of the mandibles, which is observable on one side only of the channel, and not on both; secondly, in the tarsi all equally armed with spines, and not only the four anterior ones; thirdly, in the colour of the thorax and the abdomen, which is not uniform as is usual in the _Sauvagesii_. Nevertheless, such differences might be in part climatic, which would cause our _Mygale_ to be considered as a mere variety of the same species, and the others might be the result of the different method of examining the parts, and of the goodness of the instruments."

At p. 19, in the _Fauna del Regno di Napoli_, M. Costa gives the following account of the nest of _Nemesia cellicola_, which he discovered above San Martino in September, 1833:--

"Vive entro la polvere arida, nelle cavità oscure delle muraglie, e propriamente nelle così dette _Saettiere_, ove, col glutine suo, si costruisce un tubo delicato e mobile, che ha cura di affidare nel suo origine a qualche corpo stabile nel fondo del muro, e che in terra nella polvere, aprendosi l'altro estremo sul piano inclinato dalla polvere stessa costituto."

This, with the exception of the words "e che in terra nella polvere," which are unintelligible to me as they stand, and appear to want a verb, may be translated as follows:--

"She lives in the dry dust, in the obscure crevices of walls, and especially in those which are called _Saettiere_ (loop-holed walls?), where she constructs a delicate and flexible tube with her viscid secretion, and which she takes care to fasten at its commencement to some solid body at the bottom of the wall, ... the other extremity opening on the inclined plane formed by the dust itself."

We may remark that there is here no mention of any door or concealment at the mouth of the tube, and in this and some other respects the nest of _Nemesia cellicola_ would appear to resemble the nest of _Atypus piceus_ from the neighbourhood of Paris. See above in the text, p. 78.

B.

_On the Habits of Cteniza Ariana._

The following is a free translation of an account read by M. Erber before the Botanico Zoological Association of Vienna,[98] of the very curious observations which he made on _Cteniza Ariana_ when travelling in the Grecian Archipelago.

[Footnote 98: Verhand. der k. k. zoologisch-botanischer Verein in Wien, vol. xviii. (1868), p. 905.]

"On my return voyage [from Rhodes], I stayed for a fortnight in the island of Tinos, and, among other things, I captured several specimens of the so-called trap-door spider (Deckelspinne) _Cteniza Ariana_, Walck., and with much trouble procured an entire tube and trap-door of this creature.... I am thus enabled to exhibit to this honourable assembly the complete nest of this creature, and the spider herself, with her eggs, preserved in alcohol, and can moreover add some few words as to her habits.

"It needs some practice, as the specimen before you shows, to enable one to discover the nest, as the door is always closed by day. I dug out several of these tubes, but failed to find either the remains of food or excrement. So there was nothing for it but to devote a couple of nights to watch these creatures. With this view I selected a place where many spiders had excavated their tunnels, and availed myself of a moonlight night for my observations.

"Shortly after nine o'clock the doors opened and the spiders came out, fastened back the trap-doors by means of threads to neighbouring blades of grass or little stones, then spun a snare about six inches long by half an inch high, and afterwards returned quietly to their holes.

"I had so chosen my position that I could see three of these spiders at the same time. I now captured a specimen and put it into spirits, and in a short time saw entangled in the net of one of the remaining spiders a _Pimelia_, and of the other a _Cephalostenus_, both rather hard-lived, night-flying beetles, which were seized by the spiders, and the latter, after sucking out the juices, carried the empty bodies to a distance of several feet from their holes. All these events happened in about three hours, after which time I allowed the two spiders to remain undisturbed, and returned to the house.

"Early next morning I revisited the spot, and then perceived that these two spiders had entirely removed the net which they made the preceding night, but the entrance to the nest of the spider which I had captured still remained open, and I could clearly trace the shape of its snare, on which the heavy morning's dew lay. The upper threads were isolated, but the snare became thicker as it approached the ground. I found that these snares had, strange to relate, been gathered up by the two other spiders, fastened on to the door, and smoothly spun over, and, on making a vertical section of the doors, which were nearly a quarter of an inch thick, I discovered that they were composed of several layers.

"In the nests of several females I found eggs at the bottom of the tube, not placed in cocoons, but attached by separate threads. The young spiders when hatched are turned out from the asylum of their mother's nest; and I found these creatures when scarcely two lines long already established in nests three inches deep, and furnished with perfect trap-doors, of which facts the specimens I now lay before you are the evidence."

C.

Species of Territelariæ, enumerated by Professor Ausserer,[99] belonging to Europe and the Mediterranean region, with synonyms, and two species which I have added in brackets:--

[Footnote 99: Beiträge zur Kenntniss der Arachniden-Familie der Territelariæ, in k. k. zool.-bot. Gesellschaft in Wien (1871), vol. xxi. pp. 117-224.]

_Atypus piceus_, Sulzer. (_A. Sulzeri_, Latr.) Holland, France, Switzerland, Germany, Northern Italy.

_A. Blackwallii_, Auss. England.

_A. Anachoreta_, L. Koch. Fiume.

_Idiops Syriacus_, Cambr. Beirût.

_Æpycephalus brevidens_, Doleschall. Sicily.

_Cteniza Sauvagei_, Rossi. (_Ct. fodiens_), Corsica, Pisa, Mentone, Ionian Islands.

_Ct. orientalis_, Auss. Brussa.

_Ct. ædificatoria_, Westw. (_Actinopus ædificatorius_, Westw.) Tangiers.

_Ct. algeriana_, Luc. Algiers.

_Cyrtocarenum Arianum_, Walck. (_Mygale (Cteniza) Ariana_, Walck.). Naxos, Tinos.

_C. tigrinum_, L. Koch. Syra.

_C. grajum_, C. Koch. Nauplia in the Morea.

_C. ionicum_, Saunders. Ionia.

_C. lapidarium_, Luc. Crete.

_Cyrtauchenius Walckenaerii_, Luc. Algiers.

_C. Doleschallii_, Auss. Sicily.

_C. similis_, L. Koch. Saragossa.

_C. obscurus_, Auss. Sicily.

_Nemesia cæmentaria_, Latr. S. France, Spain, Sardinia, Corsica, Sicily, Algiers.

_N. cæmentaria_, var. _germanica_, Auss. Wippach, near Görz in Trieste.

[_N. meridionalis_, Costa. Naples, Ischia, Sestri near Genoa, Mentone, and Cannes.]

[_N. Eleanora_. Mentone and Cannes.]

_N. cellicola_, Sav. et Aud. Rome, Sicily, and Egypt.

_N. maculatipes_, Doleschall. Sardinia.

_N. badia._, Auss. Corsica.

_N. manderstjernæ_, L. Koch. Nice.

_N. hispanica_, L. Koch. Madrid.

_N. macrocephala_, Auss. Palermo.

_Brachythele icterina_, C. Koch. Greece.

_B. incerta_, Auss. Brussa.

_Macrothele calpetana_, Walck. Southern Spain.

_M. luctuosa_, Luc. Southern Spain.

_Leptopelma transalpina_, Doleschall. Friuli.

_Ischnocolos triangulifer_, Doleschall. Sicily.

_I. holosericeus_, L. Koch. Spain.

_I. gracilis_, Auss. Cyprus.

_I. syriacus_, Auss. Syria.

_Chætopelma ægyptiaca_, Dol. Egypt.

D.

_Hints on Collecting Spiders._

It is very important to collect adult specimens of males and females, but the former, from their roaming habits, are often extremely difficult to find.

At night they may sometimes be taken by lamp-light near the nests of the females, and certain kinds are said to live with the female during the months of September and October. The females may usually be found in their nests during the daytime (always in Europe?).

Large spiders should be killed, or at least stupefied with chloroform, before being put into spirit of wine. It is convenient to place the specimens in glass test-tubes closed with corks, and filled with pure spirit of wine, as they may then be examined through the glass.

When specimens of more than one species are placed in the same tube or bottle, it is well to distinguish each by a number written in pencil on a small strip of card fastened round the body with a slip-noose of thread.

The patterns on the abdomen and cephalothorax of the spiders are seen very distinctly when the spiders are immersed in spirits of wine, and these frequently afford characters which aid in determining the species.

M. Thorell, in the introduction to his work _On European Spiders_,[100] gives a detailed account of a method by which specimens may be prepared for mounting in cabinets, by drying them within a glass tube held over a flame, but it would appear that, for purposes of study, specimens preserved in spirit of wine are far preferable.

[Footnote 100: Thorell (T.), On European Spiders, in Nova Acta Regiæ Societ. Scientiar. Upsaliensis, ser. 3, vol. viii. fasc. I. et II. (Upsala, 1871).]

It is very desirable to obtain characteristic portions of, or if possible entire nests, but where the tubes are long, this is extremely difficult to do satisfactorily.

Some nests, preserved in the British Museum, have been coated with thin glue, and this appears to be of some use in binding the parts together. I find that by stuffing the tube full of cotton-wool, before attempting to remove the earth, the nest may sometimes be obtained in tolerably good condition.

E.

_The Nest of the Tarantula (Lycosa Tarentula)._

As it is of some interest to compare the burrow of the Tarantula with the nest of its near allies the trap-door spiders, I give the following _résumé_ of M. Dufour's observations:[101]--

[Footnote 101: Quoted by M. Lucas, in his Histoire Nat. des Animaux Crustacés et Arachnides, p. 357.]

"_Lycosa Tarentula_ forms a cylindrical burrow in the earth, often more than a foot long, and about one inch in diameter. At about four or five inches below the surface the perpendicular tube is bent horizontally, and it is at this angle that the Tarantula watches for the approach of enemies or prey.

"The external orifice of the burrow of the Tarantula is ordinarily surmounted by a separately constructed tube, and which authors have not hitherto mentioned; this tube, a true piece of architecture, rises to about an inch above the surface of the ground, and is sometimes as much as two inches in diameter, being thus larger than the burrow itself. This tube is principally composed of fragments of wood fastened together with clayey earth, and so artistically disposed one above the other that they form a scaffolding having the shape of an upright column, of which the interior is a hollow cylinder."

M. Dufour observes, however, that the exterior tube was not found in all the nests. In every case the tube was lined with silk throughout its whole length.

F.

The following description is that given by Prof. Ausserer in his monograph of _Territelariæ_,[102] of a male trap-door spider which was found at Nice, and named by Herr L. Koch _Nemesia Manderstjernæ_. It is just possible, I think, that this male may in reality belong to _N. meridionalis_ [Costa-Cambr.], of which the female alone is at present known.[103] If this is the case, then the name _Manderstjernæ_ will have to be suppressed in favour of that of _meridionalis_. If not, we have yet to discover the female spider and nest of another species of _Nemesia_!

[Footnote 102: Beiträge zur Kenntniss der Arachniden-Familie der Territelariæ, in Verhand. der k. k. zool.-bot. Gesellschaft in Wien (1871), vol. xxi. p. 170.]

[Footnote 103: Mr. Pickard-Cambridge regards this suggestion (that _N. Manderstjernæ_ may be the male of _N. meridionalis_) not improbable.]

5. _Nemesia Manderstjernæ_, L. Koch.

♂ Die genaue Beschreibung dieser hübschen Art ihrem Autor, Herrn Dr. L. Koch überlassend, führen wir hier nur jene wesentlichen Unterscheidungsmerkmale an, welche diese Species von den verwandten auszeichnen.--Cephalothorax schön gerundet mit schmalem, mässig hohem Kopfe.--Augenhügel hoch, nach vorn und hinten steil abfallend.--Die vordere und hintere Augenreihe bilden 2 nahezu parallele Curven, mit der Concavität nach vorn. Vordere Mittelaugen stehen so hoch, dass eine Gerade von ihrer Basis zu den Seitenaugen gezogen etwas über denselben zu stehen käme, zugleich sind sie von einander um ihren Radius und kaum weiter von den vorderen Seitenaugen entfernt. Augen der vorderen Reihe fast doppelt so gross als die der hinteren.--Zähne des Rechens lang und spitz.--Palpen mässig lang, letztes und vorletztes Glied ähnlich bewaffnet wie bei _N. cellicola_.[104]--Bulbus birnförmig, mit etwas kurzer, dünner Spitze.--Alle Tarsen der Beine, ebenso Metatarsus I und II mit dünner Scopula, zugleich sind die Tarsen wehrlos.--Tibia I keilförmig verdickt, unten an der Spitze ein starker nach oben und innen gebogener, spitzer Zahn, vor demselben ein oben gerade abgestutzter Höcker.--Schenkel oben und innen mit dunkelm Längsstreifen.--Cephalothorax 6·5^{mm}.

[Footnote 104: Description of palpi of _N. cellicola_, p. 168: "Palpen kurz, stark. Femuralglied oben bestachelt; vorletztes Glied oben an der Spitze mit 4 starken, etwas kurzen Stacheln, auch das Endglied nach oben mit sehr kleinen Stacheln bewaffnet. Bulbus kurz birnförmig, in eine feine, mässiglange, fadendunne (vorn nicht gespaltene) Spitze auslaufend."]

Nizza.

Of this description the following is, I hope, a tolerably correct translation:--

_Nemesia Manderstjernæ_, L. Koch.

♂ Passing over the precise description of this pretty species by its author, Herr Dr. L. Koch, let us note here some of the essential characters which distinguish this species from its relations. _Cephalothorax_ fairly (schön) rounded, with small, moderately prominent head. Eye eminence (Augenhügel) prominent, steeply inclined in front and behind. The front and rear row of eyes form two nearly parallel curves with the concavity in front. The foremost central eyes stand so high that a line (eine Gerade) drawn from their base to the lateral eyes would pass just above them, although they are not separated from the lateral eyes by a distance greater than that of their own radius. Eyes of front row almost twice as large as those of hind row. Teeth of rake (Rechens) long and sharp. _Palpi_ moderately long, the last and penultimate joint armed as in _N. cellicola_.[105] Bulb pear-shaped, with a rather shorter, more slender point. All the tarsi of the legs, and even the metatarsi I and II, with a slender scopula, although the tarsi are unarmed. Tibia I enlarged into a wedge-shape, (having) beneath the apex a stout pointed tooth bent upwards and inwards, in front of which (is) a truncated prominence (ein oben gerade abgestutzter Höcker). Femur (Schenkel) (having) dusky longitudinal stripes above within.--Cephalothorax 6·5^{mm}.

[Footnote 105: Description of palpi of _N. cellicola_:--_Palpi_, short, strong. Femoral joint furnished with spines above; penultimate joint armed with four stout rather short spines above the apex, the terminal joint also having some very small spines. Bulb shortly pear-shaped, running out into a fine, moderately long point, which is slender as a thread, and not split in front.]

Nice.

G.

_On Nemesia meridionalis and N. Eleanora, Captive in Company with their Young._

I have tried the experiment of keeping specimens of _Nemesia meridionalis_ and _N. Eleanora_ captive in flower-pots, partly filled with earth and covered with gauze, but I have never been able to detect the least inclination on the part of either of these spiders to excavate a burrow in the earth.

Thinking that I might have better success if I were to place the mother spiders, together with their young, in captivity, I captured a female _N. meridionalis_ and _N. Eleanora_, each with its brood, and placed them on moist earth in flower-pots under gauze. The result, however, was that the young spiders concealed themselves in the crevices of the soil, while the mother spiders remained exposed.

The adult _N. meridionalis_ lived thus for twenty days (from the 7th to the 27th of November), capturing and killing flies with which I supplied her, but she then suddenly died.

After seventeen days' captivity the other species (_N. Eleanora_) began to cover a small surface of the gauze with a semi-transparent substance (which resembled varnish rather than silk), secreted from its spinners, and four days later it began to weave a cell; this cell took twelve days to complete, and finally assumed the shape of a rudely-formed figure of 8, with a circular aperture at either end, each of which was kept open during the construction of the cell, and then closed. The gauze itself, covered with silk, formed the ceiling of the cell, while the floor was made of silk attached to the earth, and the sides of strong and rather opaque silk.

This cell bore no resemblance to any portion of any trap-door nest that I have ever seen, and it is difficult to conceive how the idea of such a structure presented itself to the spider. Its outline indeed had some likeness to the general outline of the spider herself, one loop of the figure 8 being rather smaller than the other. The distance between the floor and the ceiling of this impromptu cell was a little over half an inch, its width varying from one inch in the broadest to eight lines in the narrowest part, while its length was an inch and a quarter.

It would appear that the object which the spider had in view was to construct a warm and secure retreat for the winter, and accordingly after having completed this chamber, she no longer made excursions to catch the flies with which I supplied her, but remained self-immured in her cell.[106]

[Footnote 106: My observations on the captive spider were still in progress at the time of going to print, so that the above notes must be considered as incomplete.]

It would be interesting to discover whether any of the spiders of this group (but which do not construct trap-door nests) pass the winter in similar structures.

H.

_On the Structure of Cork Doors._

In order to test my theory to the effect that the trap-door nests are enlarged from time to time, and that the numbers of layers of silk in an undisturbed cork door should represent the number of enlargements which the nest has undergone, I examined the doors of twenty-eight nests of the cork type (all I believe of _N. cæmentaria_), in order to prove whether as a rule the larger cork doors do contain more layers of silk than the small ones, as they should on this hypothesis.

This is, I think, fairly established by the following table:--

_Comparative Table._

One cork door measuring 1 line across contained 1 layer of silk. Four " doors " 1-1/2 lines " 3 layers " One " door " 1-1/2 " 2 " One " door " 1-3/4 " 4 " One " door " 2 " 5 " Two " doors " 2-1/2 " 6 " One " door " 2-1/2 " 5 " One " door " 3 " 8 " Two " doors " 3-1/2 " 5 " One " door " 3-1/2 " 7 " One " door " 4 " 7 " Two " doors " 4-1/2 " 8 " One " door " 4-1/2 " 7 " Two " doors " 5 " 9 " One " door " 5 " 5 " One " door " 5 " 6 " One " door " 5 " 13 " One " door " 5-1/2 " 9 " One " door " 5-1/2 " 10 " One " door " 5-1/2 " 14 " One " door " 6 " 12 "

The apparent exceptions to this rule, in which the larger doors have fewer layers than some of the smaller ones, may probably be accounted for in the following manner.

During the heavy rains and in times of drought flakes of earth often become detached from the sloping banks, and carry away the doors of such nests as are found in them.

This happens frequently, and the spiders hasten to repair the damage and spin new doors.

But I have found, on examining eight of these new doors, that, even in large nests,[107] they do not then contain more than three layers of silk; so that each time a nest of any size loses its door, the number of layers is greatly reduced.

[Footnote 107: Of the eight doors in question the smallest measured 3-1/2 lines across, and the largest 7 lines.]

In the case of six of these nests I had myself acted the part of the landslip and removed the existing door. These original and apparently undisturbed doors measured 3-1/2, 4, 5, 5, 5, and 5 lines across, and contained respectively 5, 7, 8, 13, 9 and 5 layers of silk; while of the equally large doors which replaced them five contained three layers of silk only, and the remaining nest but a single layer.

INDEX.