288 SPECIFIC DESCRIPTIONS OF 



and dark hairs ; tlie upper side is furnished also with 

 strong, nearly erect bristly black ones. 



Each tarsus terminates with three claws ; those of 

 the superior pair are pectinated beneath, but the 

 number of teeth appears to vary in the different legs, 

 from six to eight. The tibial joint of the first pair 

 is of the same character as that in the males of other 

 species : it has a strong black curved spine directed 

 inwards from the fore extremity of the under side, 

 and a short bluntish-conical, but very distinct ]3romi- 

 nence at the same extremity on the inner side, not 

 far from the base of the curved spine, Plate XX.," 

 fig. B 4 and C ; the colour of the vegs is j^ellow, 

 tinged with orange, the upper sides of the femora 

 being nearly black ; the palpi are similar in colour, 

 the upper side of the humeral joints being suff*used 

 with a blackish hue. 



The relative length of the legs is not constant ; in 

 one example it was 4, 8, 1, 2, in the other 4, 1, 2, 3, 

 2 and 3 being very nearly equal. Similar variations 

 are also found in the legs of the female. 



In regard to the nest of this species, researches made 

 subsequently to the publication of Harvesting Ants and 

 Trap-door Spiders have proved it to be of rather a 

 dififerent form from that there represented ; thus in 

 the main tube, just before the inner door is reached, 

 there is a descending branch running off from the 

 main tube at the same angle as the ascending branch, 

 but in an opposite direction ; in the older and larger 

 nests the descending branch becomes choked with 

 debris ; it is more distinct in the nests of the }■ ounger 

 spiders, and is always more or less distinctly traceable. 



N.B. — In the above details there have been only 



