n6 AMERICAN SPIDERS 



it resides," a simple, circular aperture in the ground, unadorned by 

 semblance of lid, turret, or silken structure of any kind. Did Hentz 

 actually see the entrance to a burrow? Did he draw upon nature 

 or his imagination as a model for this sketch? We know that he 

 never saw a lid, and we can only surmise as to whether or not he 

 saw the entrance. 



We next hear of truncata in 1871, when Ausserer created two 

 new genera, Chorizops and Cyclocosmia, for spiders distinguished 

 from their nearest relatives by possession of a truncated abdomen. 

 My gale truncata was made the genotype of Cyclocosima. Later, a 

 second species of the genus was discovered near Tonkin, Indo-China. 

 Thus, Cyclocosmia truncata enjoys the distinction, along with the 

 American alligator and other animals, of having its nearest relative 

 in Asia. 



In his monumental work, American Spiders and Their Spinning- 

 work, McCook treated the natural history of spiders in great detail. 

 His chapter "Enemies and their influence on habit" speculates fur- 

 ther on Cyclocosmia. Led on by the singular "adaptation" of the 

 abdomen, and encouraged by the work of Hentz and Ausserer, 

 McCook sees in this hard disk "one of the most curious examples 

 of relation of structure to enemies, or perhaps of the reaction of 

 hostile environment and agents upon structure." Relying solely 

 upon Hentz for his information, but cautiously warning that 

 Hentz's conjectures need confirmation, he agrees that it is not im- 

 probable that truncata uses its abdomen as a door. He further 

 appends a beautiful sketch of the spider in this imagined position, 

 and remarks: ". . . and one may imagine the intellectual confusion 

 of a pursuing enemy, which finds its prey suddenly disappearing 

 within a hole in the ground, but which, when investigated, presents 

 nothing but a level surface where certainly a hole ought to have 

 been." 



Credit for the rediscovery of Cyclocosmia largely belongs to 

 Dr. H. K. Wallace of the University of Florida, who found the 

 well-hidden burrows in the bottom of Torreya Ravine. Other colo- 

 nies discovered in Alabama and Tennessee have since widened the 

 known distribution of these curious spiders. Cyclocosmia seems to 

 prefer a rather steep slope in a shady, cool, somewhat damp loca- 

 tion. The first burrows found were in a vertical bank protected 

 by the overhanging roots of a large tree, a situation characteristic 

 of the ravines in Torreya Park, where small streams have been 

 actively eroding their courses. These exposed red and yellow, sandy 



