6lO TRAP-DOOR SPIDERS. 



Nests are found isolated. I have never seen two together. 

 Up to the present no males have been found. 



Pelmatorycter Parvus Hewitt (PI. 28 M). 

 {Ann. Transv. Miis. 5 [3] (1916).) 



This species is usually found in loamy soil, not in clay. The 

 tube bifurcates at the surface of the ground at an angle of about 

 120 degrees. The two branches project to a distance of from 

 18 to 20 mm., and to the casual observer look like dry twigs 

 or roots. There are no lids, but the tubes are folded in at the 

 mouth, and each ends in a point. When opened out and re- 

 leased, the tubes immediately resume their folded position. 



The lining is of very white felted web. 



The nests are usually from 150 to 175 mm. in depth, and 

 about 3 mm. in diameter. They occur in small colonies. 



Eggs and young were found in January and February, and 

 one male was got in ]\lay. 



Pelmatorycter Crudenj Hezvitt (PI. 2y E). 

 {Rcc. Albany Mits. 3, 72.) 



This species is much larger than P. parvus, and occupies a 

 tube of relatively greater diameter — 7 to 8 mm. being usual in 

 the case of adult spiders. As in the case of the smaller species,, 

 the tube bifurcates, but this happens underground, and only one 

 branch comes above the surface, the other being blind. The 

 angle of bifurcation is between 90 and 100 degrees. The pro- 

 jecting part of the tube is folded, as in the smaller species, but 

 it is not pointed. It also, when opened and released, resumes 

 its folded position. 



The length of the tube is much the same as that of P. 

 parvus. The lining is less felted than in Stasimopus. but is is 

 much whiter in colour. 



Usually they occur singly, but groups of three or four are 

 sometimes found. Up to the present I have seen them only on 

 clay flats, from which in dry weather it is very difficult to dig 

 them. There is an easier way of getting them, however, for 

 when the mouth of the tube is gently scratched the spider, 

 either, suspecting danger, pulls the folds more closely together, 

 or pushes open the mouth in the expectation of catching prey. 

 It is quite easy, then, to cut off their retreat by pushing the 

 blade of a knife through the tube below the point of bifurcation. 

 On one occasion I put two spiders into holes prepared for them 

 in earth packed in a glass jar. In a short time the upper parts 

 of these holes were closed up to form the blind arm, and the 

 other branch of each was excavated right to the surface and 

 finished off wth the folded mouth. During the day the entrances 

 remained closed, but when examined at night they were found 

 to be wide open, the spiders lying in the mouth on the alert for 

 prey. 



