TRAP-DOOR SPIDERS. 269 



whole lengtli spanned by a series of about five curved, 

 or slightly angular, stoutish bars or chevrons, formed 

 of more or less confluent, dark, blackish-brown blotches 

 and markings ; a more or less indistinct line of a 

 similar nature also divides the fore part of the upper 

 side of the abdomen longitudinally. There is some 

 variety in t\\Q extent, depth, and distinctness of these 

 markings, but the figures given (PI. XIX., p. 229, 

 figs. B, B 1) show the appearance of an average 

 example. 



It must be remembered that this description is 

 made from examples in spirit of wine, and that in life 

 the markings (especially on the cephalothorax) are 

 often considerably obscured by the hairs on the surface; 

 when seen through spirit the actual tints of colour 

 are sometimes misrepresented, but the characteristic 

 markings are seen more distinctly. 



The lower part of the sides and the under- side of 

 the abdomen are of a uniform pale dull brownish- 

 yellow ; the spinners of the superior pair are short, 

 strong, and 2-jointed; those of the inferior pair are very 

 minute, and near together at the base of, and almost 

 between, the others. 



Adult and immature females were found in 1873-4 

 abundantly at Montpellier in France, in unbranched 

 tubular nests closed at the surface with a close-fitting 

 " cork" lid. 



In Harvesting Ants and Trap-door Spiders, p. 92, a 

 spider inhabiting similar nests, and found commonly 

 at Cannes and Mentone was described as N. ccemen- 

 taria, Latr. The subsequent discovery however of a 

 very closely allied, but certainly distinct, species in 

 abundance at Montpellier (the locality in which the 



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