TRAP -DOOR SPIDERS. 231 



defences wliicb thej employed when they had families 

 to protect. 



Since my attention was drawn to the existence of 

 this cavity in the dwellings of N. ^Lander stjeriKP, I have 

 never noted the presence of young in those nests in 

 which the cavity was filled up and disused ; but then 

 I have only exact records with reference to this point 

 in the case of seven nests. 



In these seven nests, however, there was no free 

 cavity, and there were no young spiders, though it 

 was at the season when it was common to find young 

 in the nests. 



The question, therefore, remains open, and further 

 observations on this head would be very acceptable. 

 I detected the cUhrh of insects, and especially the 

 horny coats of ants, in the descending cavity, in many 

 nests ; and in some of the oldest, where it had become 

 completely blocked up, these remains still indicated 

 its former outlines and position. 



The nests oi N.Mcuidersfjerjia at Cannes correspond 

 both in respect of the cavity and of their other cha- 

 racteristics with those at Mentone. N. Mandersfjernce 

 occurs pretty abundantly at San Remo in the olive- 

 grounds east of the Sanctuary, bub I can say nothing 

 as to whether the nests there possessed the cavity or 

 not, for, when I was there, I was not aware of its 

 existence. I obtained a single example of N. Man- 

 derstjernce and its nest at Hyeres, and this is the 

 westernmost point at which this species has as yet 

 been detected. 



We bave now passed in review all the seven known 

 types of true trap-door nest, and have taken note also 

 of the lower and more rudimentary forms of nest, 



