136 TRANSACTIONS, NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 



quickly. Not content with constructing the orifice to its gallery 

 at a place where there is a natural slope of the ground, and where, 

 therefore, when it leaves its home in search of food the trap-door 

 will fall into its socket and keep the cellar closed till its return, 

 the spider has actually employed a weight to make the lid shut 

 more securely. On the under surface of the lid, in many instances, 

 a small pebble is fixed, woven on by means of a silken web, and 

 this serves to hold the door fast, even when gusts of wind are 

 sweeping along the exposed ground. The spider itself has a most 

 formidable pair of fangs, and from the fact that their bases are 

 furnished with a series of sharply pointed barbs, the creature 

 derives its name of Cteniza, from the Greek word (ktcis) signifying 

 "a comb," 



Mr. Anderson Fergusson exhibited some rare Ayrshire Coleoptera, 

 including (1) Geotrupes typhceus, Linn., which was first recorded 

 in Scotland by Don, in ^Headrick's Agriculture oj Forfarshire 

 (1813). It was again recorded for the same county in Wilson 

 and Duncan's Entomologia Edinensis (1834), and in recent 

 years has been recorded in the Annals of Scottish Natural History 

 by Messrs. Lennon'and Douglas for Kirkcudbrightshire, and Mr. 

 William Evans for Arran. The specimens exhibited, two males 

 and a female, were found by Mr. Thomas Wilson, in" April, 1895, 

 on Irvine Moor ; and another male was found in the same locality 

 in May by Mr. Wilson. (2) Lampyris noctiluca, Linn., the Glow- 

 worm, from Barr, of which one male and two females were shown* 

 It has also been recorded from Girvan, but appears to be very 

 uncommon in Ayrshire. (3) Heliopathes gibhus, F., two specimens 

 from Irvine Moor, found in April, 1896, and one found in 1895 

 at Prestwick. The Irvine specimens were all found under little 

 heaps of sand about the size of a worm-cast. If the heap was 

 disturbed, the beetle was found lying just beneath the surface of 

 the sand. (4) Exomias araneiformis, Schrank. — Several examples 

 of this species were taken in a moss in a locality near Ayr in 1893 ; 

 and in June, 1896, Mr. Fergusson found one near Barr. Mr^ 

 Morris Young has also taken it in the Paisley district. This is 

 an addition to the Scottish list. It is not, however, strictly 

 speaking, a new Scottish species, as, although not included in Dr. 

 Sharp's list, Murray had included it in his ''Catalogue" as occasional. 

 (5) Acanthocinus cedilis, Linn., which was found on the wall of a 



