346 
I found the spider about the 1st of February (!) on an elevated piece of ground near 
my house, six miles east of Edgeiield village, the county-seat of Edgefield County, on 
the head-waters of Turkey Creek, on my farm, twenty-five miles north of Augusta, 
Georgia, near Johnson’s Depot, Charlotte, Columbia, and Augusta Railroad. I took 
the spider from the ground only a short time before it was shipped. It feeds only at 
night. A few years ago [had a mate to this. The hole was built under the pillar of 
my house.‘ In visiting the nest at night I have found the spider absent on two or 
three occasions, but always at home during the day. 
The spider sent by Mr. Wever so closely resembles, in form of nest, 
habits, &c., the Cteniza nidulans, or trap-door spider of the West Indies, 
described by Mr. Gosse in his Sojourn in Jamaica, that we doubted its 
having come from South Carolina, until we received Mr. Wever’s inter- 
esting letter, and we shall therefore make some extracts from Mr, 
Gosse’s account of its natural history, &c. 
The spider first digs a cylindrical burrow with its jointed fangs and 
mandibles, from four to ten inches in depth and about an inch in diame- 
ter; the bottom is rounded, and the top, which is level with the surface 
of the earth, is closed by a circular lid, continuous with the tube for 
about a third of its circumference. This part may be called the hinge. 
The mouth of the tube is commonly dilated a little, so as to forma 
slightly-curved rim or lip; and the lid is sometimes a little convex inter- 
nally, so as to fall more accurately into the mouth and close it. 
.Our specimen agrees in every respect excepting that the lid or trap- 
door is nearly circular, but with part of the circumference cut off, so as 
to form the hinge to the lid. The lid itself is composed of fragments of 
earth, spun together with a light gossamer web, and appears to be thicker 
where it forms the hinge to the trap-door. The spider itself never makes ~ 
its appearance during the day, but must hunt for its prey at night, as 
several flesh-flies, put in the glass globe in which the nest is placed, in- 
variably disappear before morning. When the lid is disturbed, the 
spider holds it down by means of its claws, and it is with the greatest 
difficulty that it can be opened, the animal exerting its whole strength, 
‘to prevent its being accomplished; but when this is effected it retreats 
to the bottom, whence it may be partially drawn up by placing a twig 
in the burrow, which the spider savagely seizes with its jaws, and may 
then be partially dragged into daylight. A piece of string, inserted one 
day under the trap-door to facilitate opening it when required, was re- 
moved by the spider and cast outside. 
We have only been able to give an imperfect sketch of the nest and 
Riot, spider, as the animal could only be seen for a 
Sein 2 very short time, when momentarily dragged into 
SLEEP >, view, as it almost instantaneously retreated to 
2 Se the bettem of its burrow as soon as brought 
into daylight, and we were afraid of killing it 
outright, if it had to be forcibly dragged from 
,/. its burrow. From what was seen it appeared to 
wl/z be of a dark-brown color and somewhat hairy. 
LUMINOUS LARVA.—Mr. Wever at the same 
— time sent a large larva of a cream-color, shaded 
—— with chestnut on the back, that was very lumin- 
ous, and showed a bright phosphoresent light 
_ in the rings of the body and spiracles. This 
light was of a pale bluish color, and so bright 
that it could be plainly seen in daylight, by 
ae putting it ina dark corner, or shading it with 
the hand. As the larve of Melanactes, a species of Hlater or ‘‘snapping- 
re. 
