Ncio Araclmida. 35 



cavation, so that its upper surface i's flush with the surrounding 

 ground. 



The door is never lifted, for the small spider merely crawls out 

 anywhere from under the edge, as from under a blanket (several 

 were observed doing so), the raised portion of the limp door closing 

 down again immediately from its own weight. The tongue-like flap 

 at the opening of the hole no doubt facilitates entering the latter, 

 besides preventing sand from falling in. 



Habits. The female spiders and young of both sexes feign death 

 when disturbed. The nests of the immature spiders were found 

 fairly abundant during November, while the adult form of both 

 sexes appeared early in December (only one adult ? was found in 

 November). The adult males run about the veld by day, but one 

 specimen was dug up from a nest, apparently just after moulting. 

 The males have a curious habit of raising their front legs and 

 showing fight. When running, the males, according to Mr. 

 Schreiner, show a close resemblance in colouration and move- 

 ments to the smaller specimens of a large ant (Camponotus ful- 

 vopilosus, de Geer), which has similar yellowish hairs on the 

 abdomen above and is common in the locality. Unlike the 

 female, but like the ant, the male runs with its body high off the 

 ground. 



During January and February the spiders and nests disappeared, 

 and it was not until March 10th that the tiny nests of some young- 

 ones were observed, only to disappear at the approach of bad 

 weather. During some weeks of fine weather in the beginning 

 of May large numbers of these tiny nests were again observed. 



FAMILY LYCOSID^E. 



LYCOSA SCHREINERI, n. sp. 



Types. 5 $ $ , 3 $ $ , and 3 young from Hanover and from the 

 neighbouring farms Vlagkop and Palmietfontein. 



? 5 . Brown bands on carapace covered with black or blackish 

 brown hairs and provided with radiating stripes of white hairs ; the 

 submarginal bands yellow, covered like the black margins with 

 white hairs ; the median band yellow, with whitish or yellowish 

 hairs, its cephalic portion parallel-sided, often with 2 dark spots 

 and generally marked off from the narrower thoracic portion by 

 a slight angular constriction, the thoracic portion narrowed behind 

 the median stria. Posterior median eyes large, scarcely or slightly 



