TRAP -DOOR SPIDERS. 227 



Auss.* (formerly called N. meridionalis), has already 

 been partially made known by the figures and descrip- 

 tion given of it in Ants and Spiders (Plates IX., X., 

 and XI., pp. 98, 100, and 104) ; but I have to confess, 

 with crreat reo-ret, that when these illustrations and de- 

 scriptions were published, I was not fully acquainted 

 with the true structure of this nest, having overlooked 

 the existence of a short descending cavity which leaves 

 the main tube a little above and on the opposite side 

 to the ascending branch. This cavity is always 

 present, but the very largest and oldest spiders 

 usuall}'- allow it to become filled up with remains 

 of food and particles of earth, and sometimes even 

 spin silk across its entrance, in which case it can only 

 be traced on very close examination. 



It was from an old nest such as this, in which the 

 descending cavity had been closed up, that the large 

 drawing: at fig-. A on Plate IX. of Ants and 

 Sjjiders was made, and this figure, therefore, still 

 remains substantially correct. 



But in the case of the other illustrations — namely, 

 fig. B, Plate IX., fig. A, Plate X., and figs. B and B 1, 

 Plate XI., where nests of young spiders, or of spiders 



• This spider was described by Mr. Picka'-d-Cambridge at p. 101 in Ants 

 and S])iders, under the name of N. meridionalis, Costa. This name has now to 

 be abandoned for reasons given in full by Mr. Cambridge at p. 283, below. It 

 would appear that a spider discovered by M. Simon in Corsica corresponds more 

 closely with the N. meridionalis of Costa than our spider of the Eiviera does. 

 Moreover, since Ants and Spiders was written I have had the good fortune to 

 obtain at Mentone four male examples of our supposed meridionalis, and these 

 prove to possess the same characters as those assigned by Prof. Ausserer to a 

 male spider which was captured at Nice, and named by him N. Mandentjernce. 

 This specimen is now in the possession of Dr. L. Koch, to whom 1 am much 

 indebted for having kindly entrusted it to me for examination. This enabled 

 Mr. Pickard-Cambridge to assure himself of the specific identity of his 

 N. meridionalis with N. MandersljerniB, which latter name it must for the 

 future bear. 



