10« TRAP -DOOR SPIDERS. 



the name of Mygale meridionalis, though, if we are to 

 rely implicitly on the figures and detailed account 

 given by this naturalist, we must suppose that it con- 

 structs a different nest in Southern Italy from that 

 which it makes on the Eiviera, and one which, 

 although it agrees in most other respects, is destitute 

 of the characteristic subterranean door. 



It is more likel}', however, that M. Costa has over- 

 looked the existence of the lower door, though it is 

 strange that he should have done so, as he says that 

 the nests " sometimes have a double aperture, and the 

 upper portions of the burrows meet and anastomose 

 at about two inches distance," thus showing that he 

 was aware that the tube is branched. 



One more nest only now remains to be described, 

 and this is again an example of a new type — namely, of 

 that which I have distinguished as the unbranched 

 double door (Phite XII.), the work of Nemesia 

 Eleanora. This nest is never branched, and its second 

 and subterranean door is situated from one to four 

 inches below the surface door, and only serves to close 

 the one tube which is narrowed above the insertion of 

 this lower door. Here, as in the branched nest, the 

 thin and wafer-like surface door appears to serve 

 principally for concealment and the lower one for 

 resistance. This latter, made out of earth encased 

 in strong white silk, is from one to two lines thick, 

 and has, at the end away from the hinge, a similar 

 appendage to that found in the lower door of the 

 branched nest. This appendage serves, I imagine, as 

 a kind of ear by which the door, when firmly jammed 

 into the tube on the approach of an enemy, may be 

 pulled down again as soon as the alarm is over. As 



