162 Mr. S. S. Saunders's Descrijjtion 



The hinge of the nests prepared by this species is apparently 

 different from that of the nests which came under the observation 

 of M. Audouin, although the same object of providing for the 

 self-closing of the valve is effected by the web, which connects 

 the tube with its coverlid, being in some degree extended on 

 each side of the hinge, thus giving at the same time greater ap- 

 parent width to the hinge itself, but leaving the web sufficiently 

 loose on each side, so that, in conjunction with its elasticity, it 

 should just admit of freely opening the valve as far as the vertical 

 line, or thereabouts, without risk of injury. 



The nests of an undescribed species of mining spider from New 

 Granada, figured by M. Audouin in the " Annales des Sciences 

 Naturelles," for April, 1837, appear to be furnished with a hinge 

 somewhat upon this principle : the underside of the valve is also 

 divested of the series of holes before alluded to ; but it differs 

 from the Ionian one in other respects. The insect in question 

 did not accompany the nest, and was not known to M, Audouin. 



The interior lining of the tube of M. lonica appears, from all 

 the nests which I have seen, to be of a less perfect consistency 

 than that of M. fodiens, and divested of that circumference of 

 macerated earth, or exterior walls of a more solid consistency than 

 the surrounding mass, which in those of the last-mentioned spe- 

 cies give strength to the work and facilitate the separation of the 

 tubes from the mass in which they are imbedded. In attempting 

 such separation, the tubes of the Zante Mygale invariably broke 

 asunder, although this effect may be in some measure attributed 

 to the excessive dryness of the earth at the time of excavation) 

 and perhaps in part also to the circumstance of the glutinous 

 matter, with which this description of tissue is usually provided, 

 being dissolved and wasted, at a former period, from the action 

 of the same causes to which I have ascribed the appearance of the 

 nests above the surface of the soil. 



The length of these tubes might be about four and five inches. 

 Those of Mygale ccementaria (as described by M. Leon Dufour, 

 in the Annales des Sciences Physiques) are stated to be about 

 two feet deep : those, however, of M. carminans (the supposed 

 male of ccementaria), are, according to the observations of the 

 Abbe Sauvages, not more than seven inches long : while those of 

 M. fodiens, in the Paris Museum, although cut off within about 

 three inches of the surface, are supposed by M. Audouin to have 

 been possibly of considerable length, for, in alluding to a slight 

 obliquity observed towards their lower extremity, he says, "peut- 

 ^tre meme se recourbaient-ils davantage en se prolongeant beau- 



