TRAP- DOOR SPIDERS. 97 



Fig. B in this plate represents a moss-covered sod 

 pierced by the tube of a nest, the door of which is 

 entirel}^ concealed from view, and only discovered 

 when opened as at B 1. 



This nest was found accidentally by Mr. Robert 

 Lightbody, who kindly brought it to me, its presence 

 having been betrayed by the tube, which he happened 

 to cut through in digging up a plant. The moss on 

 the door grew as vigorously, and had in every way 

 the same appearance, as that which was rooted in the 

 surrounding earth ; and so perfect was the deception 

 that I found it impossible to detect the position of 

 the closed trap even when holding it in my hand. 

 There can be no doubt that many nests escape observa- 

 tion in this way, and the artifice is the more surpris- 

 ing because there is strong reason to believe that this 

 beautiful door-garden is deliberately planted with 

 moss by the spider, and not the effect of a mere 

 chance growth. I shall adduce evidence in support 

 of this statement by-and-by. 



I alluded to the nest C (Plate VIII.) when speak- 

 ing of the claw marks which it exhibits, and that 

 figured at D and D 1 in this plate is merely an in- 

 stance of a good example of this type. I have taken 

 nests of N. came nt aria both at Cannes and Mentone, 

 and have little doubt that this species will be dis- 

 covered at many points along the Eiviera. I detected 

 two abandoned nests of the cork type, which I fully 

 expect had belonged to iY. caimentaria, in an enclosed 

 space called the Campagne de Garonne in Marseilles 

 itself. These nests lay in the little mound of undis- 

 turbed earth between the divided trunks of the small 

 olive-trees, and I do not doubt that if 1 had had time 



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