SUPPLEMENT 



TO 



TRAP-DOOR SPIDERS. 



There would doubtless be a just feeling of pride and 

 satisfaction in the heart of a naturalist who could say 

 that he had made himself thoroughly acquainted with 

 all the species of a particular group of animals, had 

 learned their most secret habits, and mastered their 

 several relations to the objects, animate and inani- 

 mate, which surrounded them. But perhaps a still 

 keener pleasure is enjoyed by one who carries about 

 with him some problem of the kind but partially 

 solved, and who, holding in his hand the cliie which 

 shall guide him onwards, sees in each new place that 

 he visits fresh opportunities of discovery. The latter 

 is certainly the condition of those who take an interest 

 in searching out the habits and characters of trap-door 

 spiders ; for this subject, far from being exhausted, 

 expands under the light of recently acquired facts, 

 and invites research in many parts of Europe, north 

 as well as south. 



We have only to compare the number of types of 

 trap-door nest which were known before the publica- 

 tion of A?its and Spiders, with those at present re- 



