142 TRAP-DOOR SPIDERS. 



tured several specimens of the so-called trap-door spider 

 (Deckelspinne)C^e?M2'a^rm7i«,Walck., and with much trouble 



procured an entire tube and trap-door of this creature 



I am thus enabled to exhibit to this honourable assembly the 

 complete nest of this creature, and the spider herself, with her 

 eggs, preserved in alcohol, and can moreover add some few 

 words as to her habits. 



" It needs some practice, as the specimen before you shows, 

 to enable one to discover the nest, as the door is always closed 

 by day. I dug out several of these tubes, but failed to find 

 either the remains of food or excrement. So there was nothing 

 for it but to devote a couple of nights to watch these creatures. 

 With this view I selected a place where manj'^ spiders had 

 excavated their tunnels, and availed myself of a moonlight 

 night for my observations. 



" Shortly after nine o'clock the doors opened and the spiders 

 came out, fastened back the trap-doors by means of threads 

 to neighbouring blades of grass or little stones, then spun a 

 snare about six inches long by half an inch high, and after- 

 wards returned quietly to their holes. 



" I had so chosen ray position that I could see three of these 

 spiders at the same time. I now captured a specimen and put 

 it into spirits, and in a short time saw entangled in the net of 

 one of the remaining spiders a Pimelia, and of the other a 

 Ceplialostenus, both rather hard-lived, night-flying beetles, 

 which were seized by the spiders, and the latter, after sucking 

 out the juices, carried the empty bodies to a distance of 

 several feet from their holes. All these events happened in 

 about three hours, after which time I allowed the two spiders 

 to remain undisturbed, and returned to the house. 



" Early next morning 1 revisited the spot, and then perceived 

 that these two spiders had entirely removed the net which they 

 made the preceding night, but the entrance to the nest of the 

 spider which I had captured still remained open, and I could 

 clearly trace the shape of its snare, on which the heavy 

 morning's dew lay. The upper threads were isolated, but the 

 snare became thicker as it approached the ground. I found 

 that these snares had, strange to relate, been gathered up by 

 the two other spiders, fastened on to the door, and smoothly 



