252 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[NOVEMBEK 1, 1897. 



granted that they did not make any — but whi/ not I failed 

 to see or to be convinced. My own opinion was that the 

 male did live in a tube during its younger days, and to 

 prove this to be a fact was a long and arduous task carried 

 on by day and night at Hampstead, to which Heath I made 

 no less than twenty-nine journeys before I was successful. 

 Just twenty years ago this month (October) I once more 

 made a tour of the colony spread over the Heath. I had 

 carefully examined some nests which I had marked and 

 examined many, many times during the past years. One, 

 upon which I had previously looked with suspicion, now 

 caught my attention, for at the apex was an aperture with 

 the edges of the silk turned outwards, from which I thought 



somethinghad gone 

 out. I promptly 

 set to work digging 

 the tube out of the 

 sand. The fact that 

 it was an exceed- 

 ingly delicate one 

 made the task diffi- 

 cult, but at last I 

 had the pleasure of 

 removing it success- 

 fully, being careful 

 not to break the sand a way from the bottom,for if my opinion 

 was correct I expected to find the old clothes or skin of 

 the spider left behind, and in these old clothes would be 

 found the proof as to the sex of the late owner. I at once 

 saw that the tube was empty, so, carefully boxing it, I turned 

 my steps homeward, where I soon had the microscope out 

 for the purpose of searching over the ilehris from the 

 ruptured tube. The old skin was tolerably perfect in the 

 main parts, but the organs which I desired to find were 

 the minute terminal jjoints of the palpi, which every 

 arachnologist knows are different to those of the female. 

 After a close examination of the loose sand at the bottom 

 of the nest, I found the object of my search, viz., Imtli 

 terminal clubs of the immature male trap-door spider, thus 

 proving that it does make a tube as well as the female — also 



# fpfe 



Fig. 4. — Jaws of Common Grarden 

 Spider (opening laterally). 



Fig. 5. — Jaws of British Traji-door Spider (opening rerticalh ). 



that the mature spider was somewhere about Hampstead 

 Heath. The next day I was again found wandering about, 

 with my eyes and nose close to the ground, peering behind 

 and under every likely and unlikely gorse bush, and any 

 stunted plant which I thought might ailord shelter for the 

 wandering male. 



During my search I passed many nests whose outward 

 appearance had not altered since my previous visit. At 

 last I noticed a large one, in the aerial portion of which 

 was a big rent, with the edges turned in. An hour and a 

 half of steady digging, and this tube with its contents was 

 safely removed. I noticed that something was moving up 

 the inside, and when it reached the rent I saw that it 

 was a large female, which I at once boxed ; then, on 

 examining the lower part of the nest, I saw what I at lirst 



sight thought an old skin, but to my surprise and great 

 joy it moved, spread its legs, and walked out, revealing 

 itself to be the long-searched-for mature male trap-door 

 spider. I forwarded both male and female spiders to the 

 Kev. 0. Pickard-Cambridge, who informed me that they 

 were, without doubt, the Atijpus piccux of Sulzer. 



Since this capture (1877) and settlement of the name, I 

 have steadily worked out the life history of this most 

 interesting spider, and in the next number of Knowledge 

 I shall give a detailed account of its structure, life, and 

 habits, which I am able to do after years of close obser- 

 vation of many individuals. 



(To be continued.) 



THE MYSTIC NUMBER THREE. 



THE number three possesses so many peculiar 

 properties that it is no matter of surprise that the 

 ancients came to look upon it with a sense of 

 profound admiration. In a paper lately published 

 by the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Mr. S. C. Laharry 

 describes a few mysterious and unaccountable properties 

 of the number ; and in themselves they are sufficient to 

 surround it with an atmosphere of superstition. To begin 

 with, when any number is multiplied by three or any 

 multiple of three, as sis, nine, twelve, etc., the separate 

 figures in the result, if added together, give a total of 

 three, or a multiple of three, thus ; — 



4 multiplied by 3 gives 12, and 1 -f 2 =3. 



5 „ 3 „ 15, „ 1 f 5 = 6. 

 17 „ 9 „ 153, „ 1-H 5-1-3= 9. 

 22 ,, 12 ,, 264, „ 2-^6 + 4 = 12. 



Another noteworthy property of the number is that when 

 thirty-seven is multiplied by three, or any multiple of it 

 up to nine times — that is, twenty-seven — the result consists 

 of three same figures, thus : — 



37 miJtiplied by 3 gives 111. 

 37 „ 6 „ 222. 



37 „ 9 ,, 333. 



37 „ 12 „ 444. 



Peculiarities of this kind make three a remarkable digit, 

 even mathematicians admit, so it is not surprising that the 

 number plays an important part in traditions everywhere, 

 but more especially in Asiatic countries. 



In the English language, expressions in which the 

 number three occurs, such as " Three cheers," " Sisters 

 three," " Three sheets to the wind," " Three estates of the 

 realm," and the like, are very common. The Chinese 

 assigned mysterious properties to the number, and founded 

 upon it their famous Triad Society, the management of 

 which is vested in three chiefs or Elder Brothers ; and the 

 nations of Komc, Greece, Egypt, and India attributed a 

 triplicity to the deities of old. 



That the Druids favoured the number three is believed 

 by Mr. Laharry to be shown by the facts that there were 

 three degrees in Druidism — (1) Bards, (2) Prophets, and 

 (3) Druids, or sanctified authorities — and that the colours 

 they used were white, blue, and green, emblematical of 

 light, truth, and hope. Under each Arch-Druid there was 

 a trinity of ministers. The Egyptians had their trinity in 

 Osiris, Isis, and Horus ; in Scandinavia the trinity of 

 deities consisted of Odin, Vile, and Ye ; while the Gothic 

 triad was composed of Woden, Frigga, and Thor. Ancient 

 Greece honoured Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades; while ancient 

 Rome was not content with a single trinity — Jupiter, 

 Neptune, and Pluto — but four times three deities presided 

 over their spiritual and temporal rites. 



The Hindu trinity consists of Brahma, Visnu, (^'iva — 



