Rey. O. P. Cambridge on British Spiders. 107 
if not rather larger than, the tube itself. In another instance 
(one of Mr. Enock’s Hampstead examples) the branch issues 
close to the surface of the ground, and appears to form merely 
a short supernumerary entrance to the tube: in this case the 
branch is no more than an inch long. I am unable to conjec- 
ture what the significance of these branched tubes may be. 
In regard tothe trapdoor spiders of South Europe, the researches 
of the late Mr. Moggridge appear to prove that the presence 
or absence of branches to the main tubes indicate specific dis- 
tinctions in the spiders by which they are formed; in the 
present instance, however, this is certainly not so. A some- 
what similar branching has been found to exist occasionally 
in the tubes of a New-Zealand species of Nemesia (N. 
Gilliesi?, Cambr.); but in this instance I have conjectured that, 
the main tube having become choked (as has been the case) 
with débris of insects and other extraneous matters, the for- 
mation of a fresh portion of tube became necessary. In 
the branched tubes of Atypus piceus the branches have not 
been in any way choked. The enlargements met with in all the 
larger tubes are probably intended for the reception of the egg- 
cocoon, and subsequently for the accommodation of the infant 
brood until such time as they leave the home nest and form 
separate tubes for themselves. In all cases that have come 
before me the upper (and projecting) extremity of the nest has 
been devoid of any perceptible orifice. It struck me at first 
that there might be an elasticity in that portion of the tube, 
which, while permitting the spider to effect its exit and return, 
would cause the orifice again to close. J am now inclined to 
think that the spider gnaws its way out, and after its return 
closes the orifice by fresh threads with its spinners, an opera- 
tion which it would perform without difficulty in a very few 
minutes. 
Before separating and spinning tubes for themselves, the 
young brood appear to leave the home nest and take up their 
residence in an irregular web spun among the surrounding 
herbage. This, at least, is the conclusion I come to from 
Mr. Enock’s finding a considerable number of young in a web 
on a broom-bush close to the colony in April 1876. These 
young were much smaller than 129 others found, in the No- 
vember following, within a tube. One of the tubes dug out 
on Bloxworth Heath in September 1877 contained, in the 
enlargement near its lower extremity, about 100 very small 
young ones. 
The three adult males found by Mr. Enock were all in 
tubes. 
8* 
