3i8 Californian Turret-Building Sfidcr. [zoe 



the development of the impulse to ornament the external surface of 

 the shell with colored patterns and designs, by commencing with 

 those stained with a few irregular blotches or daubs and ending 

 with those shells painted with regular artistic designs and patterns. 

 An arrangement of this kind would represent the mollusk and 

 his work, and would form one of the most interesting, instructive 

 and important features of a collection for the scientific investiga- 

 tion of these curious and wonderful little animals that could be de- 

 ■vised. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE NEST OF THE CALIFORNIAN 



ENCE TO ALLIED SPECIES. 



WITH 



BY J. J. RIVERS. 



The Californian turret builder mines into the ground more or less 

 perpendicularly to the depth of from S-io inches, and from a 5/ to 



inch m diameter, according to sex and maturity. The burrow is 

 Imed with silk throughout, and the nest of a full-grown female will 

 have a turret 3 inches high covering the surface opening to her 

 burrow or tube. The material of which the turret is formed de- 

 pends largely upon what may be found in the neighborhood- it is 

 constructed of vegetable debris, such as crisp pieces of leaves, or 

 of small leaves, pine leaves or needles and grasses, the whole being 

 woven together with silk, and at times it is closed horizontally at top 

 witli similar materials, of which the other part of the turret is made 

 The spider has a wide range in California, occurring in wooded 

 districts from Monterey County to Mendocino County, and turrets 

 gathered from the various habitats show a pleading variation on ac- 

 count of the different foliage, of which the structure is necessarily 

 built. A turret erected in a pine groove is an interesting object as 

 well as a pretty one, and reminds one of the leading shoot of a 

 spruce that has been sun scorched. In these situations it is sur- 

 rounded by a protecting carpet of pine needles of the same tone of 

 color, its presence being known only by its rising perpendicularly 

 from the ground. The turrets made of a mixture of leaves form a 

 regular figure under the manipulation of this industrious spider, 

 and a remarkable turret is made occasionally by half-grown malesi 



