208 Mr. W. Sells’s Notes respecting 
leads one to assent to Dr. Pinckard’s opinion, that the West India 
islands are the products of a “ vehement vomiting of volcanic ex- 
plosion.” The red soil is well adapted to the cultivation of coffee. 
The Cteniza nidulans selects for the scene of its labours some 
spot under the rocks or trees in a sheltered situation, and where 
the soil is not exposed to the effects of the extremes of heat and 
moisture. 
As from the want of the necessary care when digging out the 
nests by the rude hands commonly employed for the purpose, 
they are almost always so mutilated and torn as to preclude in a 
great measure our recognizing what is their actual shape in a per- 
fect state, I, some years back, requested an old friend of mine to 
employ an intelligent person to obtain some specimens for me ; 
my request was kindly acceded to, and consequently my next re- 
mittance contained, among others, two which w’ere enclosed in 
large masses of the red dirt, one of which afforded a complete 
nest. In order to extricate it uninjured from its covering of earth, 
I filled the interior with melted wax, then immersed the mass in 
water for some hours, and afterwards divested it carefully of all 
the adherent earthy matter, and thus obtained the beautiful spe- 
cimen, a drawing of which accompanies this paper. Never having 
seen any but finished nests before, to my agreeable surprise the 
other mass enclosed one in progress of formation, only the lid, 
neck, and about two inches and a half of the tube having been 
formed : the latter was of course quite open at the bottom. This 
specimen is an illustrative proof that the insect first forms the lid 
and neck of the nest, and then continues its substructural works, 
in the course of which some ounces of soil must be excavated and 
carried out. The remarkably robust and compact make of this 
spider is well adapted to its business as a miner. The delicate 
texture and unfinished state of the specimen in progress reminds 
one of the skeletons of houses which require to be plastered and 
lined, in order to strengthen and finish them before they are fit to 
be inhabited. 
The nests I have received, about fifteen in number, several of 
which contained the dead insect, vary considerably in size, the 
smallest being scarcely five inches long, and the largest near nine 
inches ; the diameter of the tube also varies from three quarters 
of an inch to one inch and a quarter, the aperture and neck being 
the widest parts ; the outer layers of webbing are in every in- 
stance deeply coloured by the soil, and even the lining is slightly 
tinged of the same hue ; the texture of the latter is beautifully 
line, smooth, soft and silky ; the body of the nest, which includes 
