Al'STHAIJAX I'KAl'-DOOli SI'IDKKS 



i;v 

 W. .1. 1{ \i\i;(i\v. K.K.S., Kiit()iii()lo<?ist, the Aiistni liaii Miisi'iiiii, 



A \ I ) 



n. 11. Pii.i.KiNK, M.H., Cli.M. rSydiiev). 



IMates xii.-xxiv. 



IxrijoDrcrioN. 



This paper deals with a large amount of material chiefly personally 

 collected by one of the authois [R.H.P.] between 1907-1917 in all the Con- 

 tinental States, except Victoria. 



The collections in South Australia have been much assisted by 

 teachei^s of the State schools, who in many cases, turned the nature study 

 interests of their scholai's towards the study of spiders. This was stimu- 

 lated by the contribution of a series of illustrated papers on Araneida? to 

 The Children's Hour. One of the most able and indefatigable collectors was 

 Mr. T. Nevin, at that time at Mallala, thirty miles north of Adelaide. 

 The references to localities in this paper will shew how thoroughly the 

 district was worked, and a great quantity of material of all kinds of spiders 

 sent in for stCidy. 



The Queensland collections have been largely augmented by Dr. T. 

 Bancroft, of Eidsvold, who lives in a district at the head of the Burnett 

 River watershed, which is evidently surpassingly rich in Territellariae. 

 To his efforts we owe the discovei-y of the new gi-ouy) Dolichosternese and 

 many new genei"a and species. 



South ArsriJAi.iA. 



The first collections made, were by one of the writei's [R.H.P.] on the 

 Adelaide Plains and the Mount Lofty Ranges. On the Adelaide Plains, 

 with an average rainfall of a little over twenty inches, the summer heat 

 conditions are at times vevj severe. 



The common trapdoor spiders are Blaldstonia imrea, Hogg, and 

 Aganippe svhtristis, Camb. 



The BlaJiistoyia is to be found nearly everywhere in parks and gar- 

 dens, paddocks, and the unploughed ground along the highways leading 

 from the city. In many places between Adelaide and the sea, the nests of 

 this species occur in great numbers, not infrequently there being several 

 to the square yard (PI. xiii., fig. 8). The Blakistouiu must be regarded 

 as having considerable economic value in reducing grasshoppers and other 

 pests. As is usual with the Territellariae the inhabitants of the burrows 

 are always females and the males are chiefly found in the cold, wet weather, 

 hiding under stones. The young seem to stay with the mother for a good 

 time after leaving the pillow-shaped egg sac, which is suspended half way 

 down the tube. V^gg sacs were found in April and in the winter (June 

 and July), the young frequently occupy the tube, leaving it in the spring 

 to colonise in the vicinity of the parent burrow. It is to be noted that 

 the first infantile burrows are not provided with lids ; after about the 



