ELISHA MITCHELL SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY. 19 



fit and press it in shape, as one would mold with the hand a 

 moist portion of earth by pressing it into a thin sheet. This 

 is illustrated in Fig. 7, Plate XXII. Indeed it looked very 

 much like the black bony fingers of a hand performing the 

 work of pressing. The greatest pressure seemed to be 

 brought to bear upon the rounded ends of the madibles. 

 After fastening on a portion thus, the spider would take an 

 inverted position and apply viscid liquid along the edge 

 and under surface of the door, as shown in Plate XXIII, 

 Fig. 6. She would then turn about and crawl out for more 

 material. The hole being by the side of the jar, I could 

 watch the operation both in the hole and upon the cover. 

 By I o'clock in the morning (Nov. 13,) the door was finished 

 so that the spider could pull down the lid, which completely 

 closed the entrance, nicely fitting in around the edge and 

 appearing as if there was no hole nor spider, but through 

 the glass the spider could still be seen. 



At intervals during the construction of the door, the spider 

 would pull it down to observe where the next pellet should 

 be placed in order to make the door fit the circular opening 

 of the tube. Discovering this she would turn completely 

 around, and not being able with her head in the bottom of 

 the tube to see the place where she intended to put the next 

 load, she would find it by feeling about with her spinnerets. 

 The viscid liquid would then be applied ^nd the pellet of 

 earth fitted with extreme nicety. Satisfied with the result of 

 my experiment I retired. 



By daybreak I found that the excavation was continued 

 after the completion of the trap-door, the soil being deposited 

 around the nest to raise the surface of the earth in the jar to 

 a level with the top of the nest. Without close searching it 

 was impossible to detect the door. 



The mode of making the trap-door by this spider differs 

 very widely from that observed by other naturalists so far as 

 I can find any record. Mr. Moggridge saw the female, Ne- 

 inesia Meriodinalls, construct a trap-door in captivity. He 

 made a cylindrical hole in a flower-pot of earth. Into this the 

 spider disappeared. " During the night following the day of 

 her capture she made a thin web over the aperture, into 

 which she wove any material which came to hand. The 

 trap-door at this stage resembled a rudely constructed, hori- 

 zontal, geometrical web, attached by two or three threads to 

 the earth at the mouth of the hole, while in this web were 

 caught the bits of earth, roots, moss, leaves, etc., which the 



