170 RECORDS OF THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM. 



observations went, these spiders lived entirely upon small ants — 

 Leptomyrmex erythrocephahis, Fab. These insects were, Mr. 

 Froggatt says, drawn into the nests by the spiders, where they 

 sucked the vital juices from their bodies, and then threw them 

 out. Mr. Masters, who collected some specimens and nests at 

 Glen Oak, Williams River, informed me that the nests were 

 covered with small ants, and that it was their great numbers on 

 the trees that attracted his attention. 



Mr. D. A. Porter, of Tamworth, who has kindly donated both 

 spiders and nests to the Trustees, wrote me as follows : — " The 

 trap is a 'bag,' or cul-de-sac, with the opening upwards, and 

 generally fixed between the small branches [in a fork]. The ants 

 travel over and on it in going ujnvards, but often ' fall in,' prob- 

 ably when coming down." Further, my correspondent says that 

 he has observed the ants inside, travelling round and endeavouring 

 to escape, but that he has never noticed one succeed, or try 

 to climb out ; he has also seen fragments of dead ants in the 

 traps. Mr. Porter is, without doubt, an admirable observer, 

 and his remarks are therefore of value. In his letter he says, 

 that although he had never noticed a spider in or upon one of 

 these traps, he had always found them not far away, and 

 as " they were always of the same kind, concluded that they 

 were the owners." It is possible, however, that some of the 

 .spiders were not at home, when Mr. Porter examined the nests, 

 or that they may have e.scaped his observation, because upon 

 closely examining the group of nests presented, I found a living 

 example hiding deep down in one of the bags. The colour of the 

 animal's abdomen, and the web of which the nests are made, are 

 so much alike that detection is very difficult, and under some 

 conditions impossible. 



Mr. Porter informs me that in the Tamworth District these 

 nests or traps, so far as he can say, are only found upon one 

 variety of bush, known to the aljorigines as " Dthluby." I am 

 again indebted to Mr. J. II. Maiden for his kindness in identifying 

 this species. It is the common " Whitethorn," Btirsaria spinosa, 

 Cav. (N.O. Pittosporse). From specimens I have handled, how- 

 ever, it is evident that this spider constructs its nest in various 

 trees or shrubs. The one obtained by Mr. Froggatt at Aelong 

 was taken from one of the tea-trees ( Leptospermum sp.J, and that 

 by Mr. Masters from a Eucalypt. Mr. Porter says in concluding 

 his note that the traps are generally situated at two to four feet 

 from the ground.* 



* For description and figures of nests the reader is referred to a pre- 

 vious paper by me in Proc. Linn. Soc, N.S.W., xxii., 3, 1897, p. 549, pi. 

 xviii., figs. 6 and 6a. 



