262 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



I have distributed them among entomological friends, espe- 

 cially sending some to the Rev. O. Pickard-Cambridge, 

 begging him to investigate the matter, and report to the 

 'Field' newspaper, — a journal which has distinguished itself 

 for years by the amount and accuracy of the Natural History 

 information it has circulated. Mr. Cambridge, with his usual 

 courtesy and energy, at once entered on the task, and reported 

 as follows : — 



"^ New Genus and Species of Trap-door Spider from 

 South Africa. — An account (extracted from a South-African 

 newspaper) of the discovery by Mr. Dyer of a trap-door 

 spider, whose nest is made in the bark of trees, was published 

 in the 'Field' of October lOlh, 1874. Examples of the nest, 

 with the portion of bark in which each is constructed, 

 together with the spider inhabiting one of the nests, have 

 lately been handed to me by the Editor, with a request that 

 T would write a iew words upon the subject. It will, there- 

 fore, I think, interest the correspondent who sent them to 

 learn that the spider belongs, as it appears to me, to a genus 

 not hitherto characterised; its nest also being of a different 

 type from that of all other trap-door spiders with which I am 

 acquainted. The genus, for which I propose the name 

 Moggridgea (in memory of my kind friend, the late lamented 

 student of trap-door spiders, Mr. J. T. Moggeridge), is allied 

 to Nemesia, Latr., but differs from it, among other characters, 

 notably in the absence of the usual short, strong spines at the 

 fore extremity on the upper side of the falces, as well as in 

 the wide separation of the eyes of each of the two lateral 

 pairs. The spider which accompanied one of the nests is an 

 adult female, and measures five and a half lines in length. 

 The cephalo-thorax and falces are of a deep shining black- 

 brown colour; the legs, which are short and strong, are of a 

 lighter brown, the metatarsi of those of the second pair being 

 of a clear yellowish white ; the abdomen is of a dark purplish 

 brown ; and the tibiae, metatarsi, and tarsi of the first and 

 second pairs are furnished underneath, on either side, with a 

 row of strong spines. The nest consists of a silken tube, 

 scarcely more than an inch in length, rugged on the outside 

 in such parts as may be exposed, and formed in the folds and 

 interstices of the rough bark. This tube is closed with a 

 hinged lid of an oval or circular shape (according to the 



