252 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 
I have distributed them among entomological friends, espe- 
cially sending some to the Rev. O. Pickard-Cambridge, 
begging him to investigate the matter, and report to the 
‘ Field’ newspaper,—a journal which has distinguished itself 
for years by the amount and accuracy of the Natural History 
information it has circulated. Mr. Cambridge, with his usual 
courtesy and energy, at once entered on the task, and reported 
as follows :— 
“4 New Genus and Species of Trap-door Spider from 
South Africa.—An account (extracted from a South-African 
newspaper) of the discovery by Mr. Dyer of a trap-door 
spider, whose nest is made in the bark of trees, was published 
in the ‘ Field’ of October 10th, 1874. Examples of the nest, 
with the portion of bark in which each is constructed, 
together with the spider inhabiting one of the nests, have 
lately been handed to me by the Editor, with a request that 
I would write a few words upon the subject. It will, there- 
fore, I think, interest the correspondent who sent them to 
learn that the spider belongs, as it appears to me, to a genus 
not hitherto characterised ; its nest also being of a different 
type from that of all other trap-door spiders with which I am 
acquainted. The genus, for which I propose the name 
Moggridgea (in memory of my kind friend, the late lamented 
student of trap-door spiders, Mr. J. T. Moggeridge), is allied 
to Nemesia, Zatr., but differs from it, among other characters, 
notably in the absence of the usual short, strong spines at the 
fore extremity on the upper side of the falces, as well as in 
the wide separation of the eyes of each of the two lateral 
pairs. The spider which accompanied one of the nests is an 
adult female, and measures five and a half lines in length. 
The cephalo-thorax and falces are of a deep shining black- 
brown colour; the legs, which are short and strong, are of a 
lighter brown, the metatarsi of those of the second pair being 
of a clear yellowish white ; the abdomen is of a dark purplish 
brown; and the tibia, metatarsi, and tarsi of the first and 
second pairs are furnished underneath, on either side, with a 
row of strong spines. The nest consists of a silken tube, 
scarcely more than an inch in length, rugged on the outside 
in such parts as may be exposed, and formed in the folds and 
interstices of the rough bark. This tube is closed with a 
hinged lid of an oval or circular shape (according to the 
