July— August iSSS.] 



PSYCHE. 



89 



door; the enemy following, and finding 

 the main tube empty, would leave.* In 

 my studies of the nests and food habits 

 of jSTyrjiickiaphila foUata.,\ I found 

 indications that the main tube was con- 

 structed to serve as a gallery for the 

 passage of ants, or other insects, and 

 tliat the branch was constructed as a 

 real trap, in which the spider awaited 

 the passing of an ant, when it would 

 open the door and catch the insect. 

 The arguments I then advanced, briefly 

 stated, are: ist, the nests then found 

 were all made in places where ants had 

 underground passages, 2nd, the main 

 tube connected with some of the ant's 

 galleries, 3rd, the trap-door at the surface 

 of the ground had the appearance of 

 being little used, and 4th, one nest had 

 only one door leading into a short tube. 

 This tube opened into the floor of a 

 broad hall of the ant's nest leading into 

 several galleries. Near this broad hall 

 was the opening to the surface of the 

 ground, made by the ants, and through 

 wai:h t!ii spi br probably entered the 

 hall to construct her "branch tube" in 

 the floor. 



In May iSSS, at Chapel Hill, N. C. 

 I found a nest of Myrmekiaphila fo- 



liata^ under conditions which seem to 

 give conclusive evidence that the main 

 tube is intended to entrap unwary in- 

 sects that they might be "gobbled in" 

 as they pass the door of the branch 

 where the spider remains. The nest 

 was made in a broad foot path, where 

 the clay soil was very hard. I discov- 

 ered it by seeing the open door. The 

 following day I visited the place with 

 trowel in hand to dig up the spider. I 

 found the door still open. The main 

 tube was about nine inches long, the 

 branch about one inch long and was 

 situated six inches from the surface of 

 the ground. In this I found the spider. 

 The door to the branch was a cork 

 door, while that at the surface of the 

 ground was a wafer door. It appears 

 in cases where the nest is not made in 

 an ant's nest, that the outer door is set 

 open, thus offering an attractive j^lace 

 for insects that are crawling on the sur- 

 face of the ground in search of food. 

 They enter the main tube, and as they 

 pass the branch, the door is suddenly 

 thrown open, and to their surprise they 

 are taken captive and made a meal of 

 by the cunning spider. 



MATING OF SAMIA CYNTHIA IN CAPTIVITY. 



BY CAROLINE G. SOULE, BROOKLINE, MASS. 



Last winter I received from Nan- side of my pupa-box at the same time, 



tucket cocoons of Samia cynthia and I removed them to a cage to see if they 



on the 8th of May, 18SS, at 11-30 a. m., would mate in captivity. 



a $ and 6 emerged and crawled up the My cage consists of a shallow flower- 



pot, seven inches in diameter and nearly 



* Harvesting Ants and Trap-Door spiders. 



t Entomological Americana, Oct. & Nov. 1SS6. fuH of Sand; a circle of heavy cop- 



