218 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OP [1888, 



The nests of the same spider ^ according to other observers have 

 the projecting part trailed along the ground or surface growth of 

 grass or moss. Thus the tube differs from that of the Purseweb 

 Atypus simply in that it is spun horizontally along the surface in- 

 stead of being attached in a perpendicular position to a tree. M. 

 Eugene Simon says that Atypus piceus conceals herself in dry locali- 

 ties, partly vmderground ; sometimes in woods, principally the plan- 

 tations of evergreens. Its retreat is altogether hidden, sometimes 

 by the stones, at other times by the moss, so that it is necessary to 

 search with care and over large spaces in order to discover it. This 

 Atypus burrows obliquely a deep tunnel of 15 to 20 centimetres of 

 the size of its body. It constructs part of its tube quite straight and 

 of a tissue very thick, of which the upper part is longer than that 

 within the subterranean gallery. It is continued horizontally upon 

 the soil and terminates in a tapering closed point. Near its lower 

 extremity, the tube presents a large expansion where it dilates into 

 the form of a chamber quite spacious, within which the spider dwells. 

 It is at the entrance of the contraction that it suspends by a few 

 threads the cocoon containing its eggs. Simon presents a drawing 

 in site of the nest of Atypus,^ and a good figure of a collected speci- 

 men is given by Moggridge.^ 



These comparative results suggest a very interesting analogy be- 

 tween the spinning industry of the two aranead tribes, the Citi- 

 gradse and Territelarise, which I venture to present in diagrammatic 

 outlines at Fig. 8 and 9. The first figure in the cut (Fig. 8, 1) rep- 

 resents the simple burrow of the Mygalidce, which, in many species 

 and especially our own American tarantula, is a tubular hole in the 

 ground without any silken tube or lining. This quite corresponds 

 with the unlined tubular burrow which is the typical nest of the 

 Citigrades as represented by most of the Lycosids (Fig, 9, 1.) 

 The second figure of the series (Fig. 8) shows the silken tubular 

 nest of the Atypime, as represented by the American and European 

 species considered in this paper. Here we have the ground burrow 



1 Note on Alypus sulzeri, Mr. Edward Newman, Linnean Society. See also 

 Zoologist, Vol. xiv., 1856. p. 5021. See also Moggridge, Trap-Door Spiders, 

 p. 185. 



2 Annals Entomological Soc. of France, 5th Series, Tome 3, 1873, Plate 4. 

 ' Harvesting Ants and Trap Door Spiders, Supplement, p. 183, PI. xiii. 



