Superfamily Avicularioidea 



Professor Atkinson's observations were made at Chapel Hill, 

 N. C, and are in part as follows: 



'This species begins the excavation of its tube by parting 

 the earth from a central point with its anterior legs and palpi 

 turning around at the same time so as to push the earth on all 

 sides. It works with exceeding rapidity." "When beginning 

 the nest in a patch of moss the spider will dive down into the 

 moss and begin turning rapidly in all directions, at the same time 

 spinning threads to fasten together the pieces of moss around 

 and over it. I have watched four different ones make the nest, 

 two beginning in moss which 1 had placed over the earth, and 

 two beginning in soil. Two of these I had make a nest several 

 times, and thus far every one has first entirely closed the entrance 

 to the tube by building a sort of dome over it. Later, in one 

 case a week, cutting through this and making the folding-door. 

 Usually in making the dome, earth is placed on and about the 

 edge of the tube, occasionally applying viscid liquid and spinning 

 threads over it. Then the spider would, with its anterior legs 

 and palpi pull the edge over the tube. This operation would be 

 repeated until the dome was complete. When moss is convenient 

 the door is made almost entirely of moss and silk; each door is a 

 surface of a half circle, is hung by a semicircular hinge, and the two 

 meet, when closed, in a straight line over the middle of the hole." 

 A specimen of Brachybothrium, which Mr. Banks determines 

 as "apparently B. accentuatum," was presented to me by Mr. 

 Paul Hayhurst, who collected it at Columbia, Mo. It was 

 found in a burrow sixteen inches deep; this burrow was very much 

 like that of a large tiger beetle larva, and was without a lid. The 

 specimen is a female, and measures nine sixteenths inch in 

 length. 



Genus ATYPOI DES (At-y-poi'des) 



In this genus there are three pairs of spinnerets; the median 

 furrow of the thorax is longitudinal; the palpus of the male is 

 without a conductor of the embolus; and the pedipalps of the 

 male are only half as long as the first legs. 



Only the following species is known: 



Atypoides riversi (A. riv'er-si). — The adult male measures 

 one half inch in length. The cephalothorax is greenish brown; 

 the abdomen, dull purplish brown. The chelicerae have an extra- 



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