118 TRAP-DOOR SPIDERS. 



I have been favoured* with a sight of an unpub- 

 lished mannscript by Mr. Hansard giving an account 

 of his observations on Cteniza fodiens, made in Corfu. 

 This gentleman states that some of these spiders 

 which he kept in captivit}^ used to come out at night, 

 and might sometimes be surprised roaming about the 

 room at a very early hour in the morning. He, how- 

 ever, relates tliat he had received from a friend an 

 account of a trap-door spider inhabiting the island of 

 Formosa, in the Cliina seas, which constructed nests 

 similar to those of Cteniza fodiens, but which were 

 habitually to be seen outside their nests in the day- 

 time, attracting attention by " staring at" any one 

 who might approach, and then hurrying back to 

 their nests and closing their doors after them. 



Lady Parker has also told me of some black trap- 

 door spiders which were so common about Paramatta, 

 near Sydney, in Australia, that scarcely any one paid 

 attention to tliem, and which miglit habitually be 

 seen out on the garden paths in the daytime near 

 their holes, to which they would run in all haste 

 when alarmed. The eye of the passer-by was at- 

 tracted by the open doors, which were about the size 

 of a sixpence, and fall over backwards when the spider 

 makes her exit, but when closed, on her return, they 

 fit so neatly that it is extremely difficult to detect 

 them. 



It will, perhaps, have been observed that I have 

 throughout spoken of the female spider only, scarcely 

 any allusion having been made to the male. The 

 truth is that, though 1 have carefully searched for 



* I am indebted to Mr. Moseley for procuring this MS., and to Prof. 

 RoUeston, whose property it is, for periDission to make use of it. 



