TEAP-DOOE SPIDERS. 117 



attached to the surface. The mouth of the tuhe is 

 commonly dilated a little, so as to form a slightly re- 

 curved brim or lip ; and the lid is sometimes a little 

 convex internally, so as to fall more accurately into 

 the mouth and close it. The thickening of the hinge 

 by additional layers is, I think, accidental only, as, 

 out of many specimens that I have examined, only 

 one or two had such a structure. In the neatest 

 examples, the lid is of equal thickness throughout its 

 extent, agreeing also with the walls for the first few 

 inches of their depth. 



One of peculiar compactness now before me I have 

 slit open longitudinally with a pair of scissors in the 

 manner spoken of above. The thickness of the sub- 

 stance is in no place greater than y^g^th of an inch, 

 which is very regularly maintained throughout the 

 lid and upper parts. The appearance at the cut 

 edge closely resembles that of millboard so divided; 

 the layers of which it is composed being very nume- 

 rous and compact, especially towards the interior side, 

 where they can scarcely be distinguished even with a 

 lens. In this specimen there is what I cannot find in 

 any of the others that I have examined. A row of 

 minute holes, such as might be made by a very fine 

 needle, are pierced around the free edge of the lid, 

 and a double row of similar ones just within the 

 margin of the tube. There are about fifteen or six- 

 teen punctures in each series; and they penetrate 

 through the whole substance, the light being clearly 

 seen through each hole. Now, what is the object of 

 these orifices ? I do not think, as I have somewhere 

 seen suggested, that they are intended to afford a 



