TRAP-DOOR SPIDERS. 211 



The nest represented diagramraatically at fig. C, in 

 Plate XIV., is shown of the natural size in Plate XVI., 

 with the spider {Nemesia Slmoni, Camb.) which con- 

 structs it (fig. A 1). 



It belono-s to the sino-le-door unbranched wafer 

 type, of which one example has already been described 

 in the West Indian nest (see AnU and Spiders, p. 79, 

 fig. B in woodcut) J for, though this latter has a shorter 

 tube and a much stouter silk lining than is the case 

 with its European representative, there does not 

 appear to be sufficient difference to justify their sepa- 

 ration as distinct types. 



This, which is the simplest known form of trap- 

 door nest, is quite new to Europe, and the spider 

 inhabiting it proves also to be one hitherto unde- 

 scribed ; it has received from Mr. Pickard-Cambridge, 

 the name of Nemesia Simoni* being so called in 

 honour of M. E. Simon, the well-known arachnologist. 



During last May (1874) we spent a few days at 

 Bordeaux on our homeward route. While there my 

 sister was fortunate enough to discover a single nest 

 of this type when we were out together on a spider- 

 hunt near the little village of Lormont, which is 

 situated on the opposite bank of the river to that on 



* Mr. Pickard-Cambridge describes N. Simoni at p. 297 below. This 

 species is remarkably well characterized, an assertion rarely to be made in the 

 case of those Nemesias of which, as in the present instance, the female only is 

 known. The elevated, rounded, and glabrous caput at once distinguishes it, 

 not to speak of other peculiarities. Mr. Pickard-Cambridge alludes to the 

 presence, in the specimens forwarded to him in spirits, of two singular indenta- 

 tions on either side of the caput (fig. A 3, Plate XVI.). I did not observe this 

 when these spiders were alive, but I remember that the caput of one of these 

 spiders which had been injured in capture contracted and expanded spas- 

 modically, presenting a painful resemblance to laboured breathing. I have not 

 observed this in other spiders. 



