TRAP-DOOR SPIDERS. 135 



have on four occasions found the remains of ants' 

 bodies at the bottom of the trap-door spiders' 

 nests. 



I have but seldom detected any refuse in these nests, 

 and this accords vv^ith what M. Erber tells us* of the 

 care with which Cteniza Ariana, which he watched by 

 moonlight in the island of Tinos, carried away the 

 empty bodies of the beetles, the juices of which had 

 been sucked out, to a distance of some feet from its 

 hole. In October, 1872, however, I found a black 

 layer of debris at the bottom of five nests of Nemesia 

 Eleanora, and this was composed principally of 

 the remains of insects, and among others of some 

 rather large beetles. 



As far as I am aware, M. Erber is the only naturalist 

 who has ever placed any detailed observations on 

 record as to the nocturnal habits of a trap-door spider 

 in its native haunts ;. and we may learn from him 

 how we should watch these creatures, if we wish to 

 discover the manner in which they take their prey, 

 and of what their prey consists. 



He relates how he witnessed the capture, in the 

 long low snare which Cteniza Ariana spreads close to 

 the ground, of two strong, night-flying beetles {Pimelia 

 and Cephalosteims), and how these were at once de- 

 voured, and their horny coats thrown away. 



More observations of this kind are greatly wanted, 

 as it is most important that we should know what are 

 the principal sources of food upon which these spiders 

 depend for their existence. 



If we could answer the questions, what do they eat? 



* A translation of these very interesting observations will be found below 

 in Appendix B. 



