38 JOURNAL OF THE 



served one in my room for tliree months) the spider would 

 throw open its doors as shown in fig. 17, Plate IV and in the 

 morning close them. If I opened the door during the day 

 time the spider would invariably come up and close it, but 

 never immediately, and never did it offer to catch the door 

 and resist its opening. When members of this genus build 

 their nest under stones, as they sometimes do, if the stone is 

 elevated from the earth in one place the spider builds the 

 tube above ground to the under surface of the stone, and 

 here makes some sort of door, I have never been able to see 

 just what, but probably very much like the ones made in 

 captivity. A longitudinal section of one of these nests which 

 I found under a stone is shown in fig. 11, Plate IV, the sur- 

 face of the ground at a and the mouth of the tube at b. On 

 turning over the stone I saw what I thought was the cocoon 

 of a moth, from Avhich the insect had escaped at the upper 

 end. I picked it up, and discovered the tube which I found 

 about 12 inches deep, with the spider' at the bottom. This 

 nest, perhaps inappropriately, I have called the hrdl dunr nest, 

 because of the enlargement just within the entrance. This I 

 consider would be of advantage to the spider in managing 

 the door while catching an ant. The portion above 

 ground was made of loam and leaf mold cemented with vis- 

 cid liquid and lined on the inside with silk. So far as I have 

 observed, the members of this genus line only that portion 

 of the nest with silk which is liable to cave in near the upper 

 portion of the tube.'^ 



Nest of MyrmekiapJdlafoUata. 



The nest of this species is not constant in type, and shows 

 widei variation in different individuals than any of those thus 

 far described ; but when taken in connection with the food 

 habit of the species there does not seem to be a very great 

 departure from a common type. 



The first individual was collected March 13, '86 by my- 

 self. In collecting specimens of ants and their root feeding 

 " cows " (Aphides) which they were protecting through the 

 winter, I found a trap-door on turning over a stone. The 

 tube I traced down about 14 inches, when I came upon and 

 struck the spider off at one side. In doing so I broke off a 



' Nidivalvatn angustnta. 



'^ I have observed the same thing with Myrinekiaphila foliata. 



