TRAP-DOOR SPIDERS. H 



The portions of nests at B and C in Plate VII. 

 also belong to Cteniza fodiens, the latter being very 

 similar to A in its surroundings, but having a 

 rather thinner door, slightly hollowed out above 

 (C 1). The smaller nest shown shut at B and 

 open at B 1,* is admirably concealed by mosses and 

 lichens, some of which actually grow upon the door, 

 and here two minute trap-doors, belonging to infan- 

 tine examples of a distinct species of spider {Nemesia 

 meridionalis), are seen on the left hand below. 



It is not rare to find small colonies of nests of the 

 same or distinct species grouped closely together in 

 this way, though I greatly doubt whether one can 

 safely assume their sociability from this fact. 



I have very seldom seen nests on the flat ground, 

 where the door would lie horizontally when closed, a 

 sloping or nearly vertical bank being usually chosen, 

 where the door will fall to by its own weight. 



In the Ionian Islands another species or variety of 

 Cteniza, described under the name of Cteniza (or 

 Mygale) iofiica, and represented as being of an uniform 

 yellow-brown colour, is said to make its nests in the 

 earth of the terraces round the roots of the olive 

 trees. 



Mr. Saundersf gives admirable figures and descrip- 

 tions which show us at once that these nests, which 

 he discovered in rather elevated situations in the island 

 of Zante, are of the cork iy^Q ; but, in this case, the 

 entire door does not shut flush with the surface, as in 



* It must be clearly understood that when the doors are represented as 

 standing open or ajar this is unnatural, as they always close by their o'mi 

 combined weight and elasticity. 



t Sydney Smith Saunders. Description of a Species of Mygale from Ionia, 

 in Trans. Eut. Soc. Loudon, 1839, vol. iii. p. I(i0, Plate IX. 



