. 
5 
: 
i 
. 
: 
THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 253 
exigencies of the position), and the entrance appears to be 
always at the earthward end; 7.e., the tube seems always to 
run upwards. One of the tubes submitted to me was 
constructed in the channelled groove of a piece of wood 
which had apparently formed part of some building or other. 
The shortness of the tubes, compared with those made in the 
ground by some species of Nemesia and Cteniza, is remark- 
able, as is also the position in which they are found; the lid, 
too, differs from all yet known to me, in being a compound 
of the two great types into which Mr. Moggeridge has divided 
those already known,—the ‘ cork’ and ‘ wafer’ types. Lids of 
the former are of solid construction, and fit into the mouth of 
the tube like a short cork, without any projecting margin; 
those of the second (or wafer) type are flatter, of much 
slighter or thinner make, and simply shut down upon the 
mouth of the tube. That, however, of the nest under consi- 
deration is of the ‘cork’ type, with a projecting ‘ wafer’ 
margin; the cork portion is less thick than that of the 
typical ‘ cork’ lid, but distinctly thicker than the margin, and 
fits into the tube, while the margin covers its edges so closely 
and completely that the nest is entirely concealed,—the outer 
side of the lid, like that of the exposed parts of the tube, 
exactly resembling the surrounding surface of the bark. The 
use of the spines on the falces of Nemesia (and Cteniza) is 
to excavate the hole in which the tube is made; but, as the 
present spider forms its nest in channels already made, these 
spines would be useless, and hence their absence ; or perhaps 
it would be truer to say that the spider, not being furnished 
with the necessary implements, but gifted with the trap-door 
nest-making instinct, has thus fixed upon a position in which 
excavation is needless. Further details of form, colour, and 
structure, would be probably out of place here; but I hope 
shortly to prepare a more minute scientific description, with 
drawings of the spider and its nest, for publication in the 
Proceedings of the Zoological Society. With regard to its 
specific name, I propose to call this very valuable and 
interesting addition to our trap-door spiders, Moggridgea 
Dyeri, after its discoverer, Dr. Dyer, of Uitenhage, South 
Africa; and I would ask that gentleman to use his evidently 
keen powers of observation for the discovery of the male sex, 
which would no doubt present far stronger and more 
