THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 391 



Mr. Moggridge found another kind with a second door lower 

 down, and also one with a lateral chamber, the opening to 

 which, as well as the main tube, is closed by the second door. 

 In these nests the lower door is strong, and fits closely, and 

 can be held fast by the spider on the inside, while the upper 

 door is for concealment only, being very thin, but almost 

 always closely resembling the surrounding surface. In many 

 cases it is overgrown with living moss and lichens, and 

 Mr. Moggridge thinks that the spider plants or sows the 

 mosses, having found little bits of moss stuck on to a newly- 

 made door. A curious and instructive observation occurs as 

 to the simple manner in which a protective adaptation may 

 be brought about unconsciously. Having cut away the top 

 of one of these nests, and thus left the tube exposed on 

 a surface of bare earth, the spider made a new door, on 

 which it stuck pieces of moss from the neighbouring moss- 

 covered bank, thus making its nest very conspicuous by the 

 round patch of green on a surface of fresh earth. The simple 

 and natural habit of covering the door of the nest with any 

 material that grows or lies around it, usually leads to conceal- 

 ment, but the above example shows that in doing so the 

 insect does not consciously work with this object. Even 

 more curious is the fact that little spiders only a few days old 

 construct nests exactly like those of the parent, — tubes exca- 

 vated in the earth, lined with silk, and provided with one or 

 two doors and lateral passages." — Edward Newman. 



Setting Lepidopiera. — Let me venture to advise your 

 correspondent, Mr. Wesley, to set his insects on the round 

 plan, but to thrust the pin far enough through the thorax, and 

 to raise the specimen completely off the cork when removed 

 from the setting-board, thereb}', as I conceive, combining the 

 advantages of both systems. — H. Jenner-Fust, jun. ; Hill 

 Court, Falfield, March 8, 1873. 



Varnished Pins. — In the 'Entomologist' (Entom. vi. 367) 

 I see a paragraph on varnishing pins. I have done this for 

 years. 1 do it in this way : take a dozen bottle-corks, stick a 

 dozen pins one-third of their length into the small ends, dip 

 the head and body into the solution in an egg-cup ; put the 

 corks big end down until the metals are dry, then give them 

 a second dip ; they then remain smooth and clear, and never 

 after change their appearance. My varnish is simply shellac 



