188 SUPPLEMENT TO 



the winter. Very possibly these spiders and their 

 nests might be transphmted and placed for observa- 

 tion in a garden ; and if room were granted them in 

 a greenhouse or Wardian case, or even in a large 

 flower-pot in a living-room, it is not unlikely that 

 the warmer temperature might waken them up to 

 renewed activity. 



It seems clear that Atypus has to fear the insidious 

 attacks of enemies ; for not only is the external portion 

 of the tube closed or almost closed at certain seasons, 

 but it is covered outside with such materials as may 

 serve to make it resemble tlie surrounding surface of 

 the ground. Thus Mr. Brown's nests, lying on a 

 sandy bank, were covered with particles of sand, while 

 my specimen from Troyes has moss and fibres of plants 

 woven into its upper extremity. 



Indeed, all the European representatives of the sub- 

 order Territelarifs which I have myself met with, 

 conceal their nests with great care and skill. There 

 appear to be others, however, which either make no 

 nests at all but hide under stones, or only construct 

 a simple silk tube, open at the mouth, and without any 

 special contrivance for its dissimulation. Further 

 observation of the habits and dwellings of these ap- 

 parently unworthy members of the trap-door group 

 is much to be desired. 



Mr. Bates,* in his work on the Amazons, describes 

 Mijgale {Tltcrapliom) Blondii, a large and powerful 

 spider of that region, as burrowing into the earth 

 and " forming a broad slanting gallery about three 

 feet long, the sides of which he lines beautifully with 



Bates, H. W., Naturalist on the Amazons, Ed. 2. (1864). 



