162 C. II. TURNER 



The floor of the completed burrow sloped inward, forming 

 an inclined plane of about thirty degrees. Having completed 

 her burrow she plugged the opening with soil and remained 

 therein the remainder of the day. This false-spider is nocturnal 

 in her habits. Each night she constructed a new burrow, in 

 the manner mentioned above; but there were variations in both 

 the direction of the burrow and its length. Sometimes, after 

 reaching the bottom of the jar, the cavity turns and continues 

 upward almost to the surface; at other times, by means of an 

 elbow, the burrow is extended in some other direction. At 

 night, on leaving the burrow to forage, she usually closes the 

 mouth with dirt. In about seventy per cent of the cases the 

 burrow was closed during the day. In its habit of excavating 

 a new burrow each night, our New Mexican Eremobates formi- 

 caria differs from the Indian species of Galeodes studied by 

 Hutton (11), which occupies the same burrow throughout the 

 breeding season. 



FEEDING ACTIVITIES 



Daily a large number of live insects were placed in the jar 

 of this solpugid. At night, after closing her burrow, she would 

 proceed to slay and eat. She is, indeed, voracious; feeding 

 ravenously and almost indiscriminately upon small moths, small 

 beetles, nymphal locusts, small locusts and grasshoppers, lace- 

 wing flies, crickets, small bugs, caterpillars, flies, gnats, etc. 

 Some she chases down; others she captures by resting quietly 

 until they come within striking distance of her jaws. On the 

 evening of July 30th, between half past nine and half past ten, 

 she captured and devoured four moths, four small beetles, one 

 lace-wing fly and several gnats. When I left at half past ten, 

 she was lying in wait for other prey. With the exceptions 

 mentioned later on, this greediness was exhibited nightly. 



In 1843, Hutton (11), in discussing a large false-spider (Gale- 

 odes) which he captured in India, says: ' This species is ex- 

 tremely voracious, feeding at night upon beetles, flies and even 

 large lizards. * * * A lizard three inches long, exclusive of the 

 tail, was entirely devoured. * * * The only parts uneaten were 

 the jaws and parts of the skin." J. H. Comstock (6) doubts 

 the correctness of this statement. In 1911 he replies: "Captain 

 Hutton states distinctly that the Galeodes observed by him con- 



