TRAP-DOOR SPIDERS. 239 



spider without obliging her to leave her nest, and it is 

 accordingly their remains that we find. 



On one occasion, however, at Montpellier, ray sister 

 detected N. ccementaria in the act of devouring^ a fair- 

 sized caterpillar; to obtain which there is some reason 

 to think she must have left her nest. We were out 

 together on the 8th of May last (1874), hunting for 

 the new wafer nests of that district, under the kind 

 guidance of M. Lichtenstein, when my sister called 

 our attention to a caterpillar, the body of which partly 

 projected from the tube of a cork nest (iV. camentaria), 

 and prevented the lid from closing. 

 , On closer examination we found that the spider 

 was in the act of devouring the caterpillar, and had 

 already sucked out the juices from the anterior por- 

 tion, while the middle and posterior parts of the body 

 still resisted, and the legs clung tenaciously to the lip 

 of the nest. 



M. Lichtenstein told us that this larva, which when 

 entire must have been rather more than an inch lon^, 

 was that of the mullein moth {CucuUia verhasci). 



It was not full grown, and as there were no mullein 

 plants within some two feet of the nest and this 

 caterpillar will not leave the plant on which it feeds 

 unless compelled, it would seem as if the spider must 

 have gone afield in order to capture it. It is possible, 

 nevertheless, that the caterpillar may have fallen 

 within reach of the spider when blown off the mullein 

 leaves by the wind. 



I have, unfortunately, but few details to give of the 

 nocturnal habits of the trap-door spiders. It would 

 appear, however, that they are more active by night 

 than by day, and that it is more common to find 



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