228 Transactions.— Zoology. 
identical nests.” If Iam right in this idea, of the varying type being the 
result of different conditions of soil, ete., it opens up a wide field for 
thought, for it carries with it, the ability on the part of each individual 
spider, not only to estimate the conditions under which it is about to pursue 
its work, but to adapt the mechanical contrivances it makes use of, to the 
varying conditions that arise, displaying an amount of artistic and engineer- 
ing ability and judgment, that quite transcends all our ordinary ideas of 
habit and instinct—but I must not enlarge on this. 
Localities where Observed. 
The locality where I have observed the Territelarie is in the Oamaru 
district, North Otago, about ten miles in from the coast, and the particular 
situations there, in which my observations have taken place, are six, known 
locally as follows :—The Cultivation Paddock, the Stable Gully, the Wool- 
shed Fence, the Bobbin Creek, the Awamoko River Terraces, and the 
' Waiareka Valley, at Elderslic. The distances of these places from each 
other vary from one quarter of a mile to eight miles. In the Waiareka 
Valley they were observed on the flat in the bottom of the valley as well as 
on the sunny faces of the terraces above. This fact seemed very peculiar 
to me, as undoubtedly they are within the reach of ordinary floods of the 
Waiareka, when the river overflows its banks. At the time I observed 
them, the ground was very spongy and damp, and had been recently 
flooded, and yet the holes had no water in them. They bore evidence, 
however, of recent labour having been expended on them, in the fresh- 
excavated subsoil not far from the holes. They were very numerous, large, 
sinuous, and deep, and easily distinguished by the different coloured sub-soil 
showing on the surface. Now, the question immediately suggests itself, what 
became of the inmates whilst the ground was covered with still water? Did 
they migrate to the terraces, not very far off, or did they remain in their holes? 
From what I have observed since of their habits (as afterwards described), 
T am inclined to think that they will rather die than desert their nests, and 
that, therefore, the owners of these nests remained in them under water. 
This necessitates that the silk lining acts as ¢ 
ing out wet, and also that the lids 
should be capable of existing in their nests for a considerable time without 
more air than happens to be in the particular nest. As to the nests keeping 
out water, I confess that I cannot very well see how the spiders could exist 
in these earth-tunnels in our wet climate, and with the soil in many seasons 
saturated with rain and Snow, unless it were so. It is difficult, on any other 
hypothesis, to account for the nests remaining free from water, and from 
the damage inseparable from the Presence of water and hard frost. Let 
