418 Mr. F. Enock 071 the 



of his captures which I should Hke to refer to ; it is the 

 supposed power possessed by Atypiis to "inflate" its 

 tube. No doubt, had Mr. Brown examined more tubes, 

 in all probability he would have arrived at some other 

 conclusion, for you will observe in his account he says, 

 " In one case, on opening the box in which the nest was 

 placed, he perceived a movement throughout the tube, 

 as if it were being inflated ; this soon subsided, but the 

 following morning he was surprised to see the whole 

 tube inflated, especially at the end which had lain upon 

 the bank," &c. I have watched many times for this 

 "inflation," but all the movement I have noticed resulted 

 from the spider creeping along from end to end ; and I 

 believe during the night they gave a few twirls with 

 their spinners, strengthening the tube so that it would 

 bear its own weight, and the aerial portion, being the 

 strongest, would present the most inflated appearance. 

 But to enable me to arrive at a more satisfactory con- 

 clusion than mere supposition, I made the following ex- 

 periments with some large tubes and powerful females : — 



No. 1. — 8 in. long. I laid straight out. 



No. 2. — 7 in. long. I laid in a bent position, at right 



angles. 

 No. 3. — 10 in. long. I tied up with cotton four inches 



from the aerial top end, but only just tight 



enough to prevent the female passing from 



the subterranean end. 

 No. 4. — 10 in. long. Four inches of the subterranean 



end was tied, the spider at the other. 

 No. 5. — 8^ in. long. Two inches from end, the spider in 



the middle part. 

 No. 6. — 8 in. long. I laid a flat piece of glass along and 



half-way over the edge of the tube for four 



inches down, so that the spider could not pass. 



I flattened every part of each tube, leaving the spiders 

 at the ends, their heads towards the contracted part of 

 the tube. Next morning I examined each one most 

 carefully : — 



No. 1. — The spider had walked from end to end, distending 



the tube the whole distance. 

 No. 2. — Was empty, an opening at the aerial end showing 



the spider escaped there after traversing the 



length, the tube still retaining the "inflated" 



appearance. 



