230 Transactions. —Zoology. 
where the interstices between the stones are filled up with earth, etc. ;” and 
again, (page 91)—‘‘ I have very seldom seen nests on the flat ground, where 
the door would lie horizontally when closed ; a sloping or nearly vertical 
bank being usually chosen, where the door will fall to by its own weight ;” and 
Costa, in his ‘‘ Fauna del Regno di Napoli,’ Aracnidi, page 14 (translated 
by Moggridge, page 138) says they live “‘in shady places, and for the most 
part, turned to the north, or to the west, seldom to the south; hence cool 
and rather damp.’’ So that you see the habits of the Oamaru species, in 
regard to the situation of their nests, so far as observed, are exactly con- 
‘trary to those recorded from other parts of the world. 
Shape of the Nests. 
The nests, though cylindrical, are often very irregular in form, as you 
may see by the specimens before you, and in this they evidently differ from 
those described and beautifully drawn by Moggridge, all of which, whatever 
their type, seem to be even and regular inform. The direction of the holes 
is always downwards, no instance of one turning up having been observed ; 
but they are all more or less sinuous, those in the Bobbin Gully, especially, 
being very tortuous, and bend in all four directions, north, south, east, 
and west. In this there would appear to be a difference from all other re- 
corded species, as therule with them would appear to be that they are mostly 
straight, and only in the case of the double-branched nests are they ‘‘ double- 
bent.’ But the great difference between the Oamaru nests and others in 
general form, is in the enlargements which occur frequently in the tubes. 
This is a very marked feature, especially in the nests in the Bobbin, where 
the enlargements are often double the normal diameter of the nest. Sketch 
No. 8, Plate VIII., shows one in which the normal diameter of the hole is 
under an inch, and the enlargement is fully two inches. These enlarge- 
ments are sometimes nearly up at the top of the nest, within an inch of the 
trap-door, as in the nest No. 2, Plate VIII., now before you, and sometimes 
half-way down. In only one case (figured in Sketch No. 5, Plate VII), 
was there any marked enlargement in the bottom of the hole, and this nest 
was the only one from that particular locality (the Stable Gully), which 
had any enlargement at all. The enlarged chamber is generally of an 
elongated form vertically, and more extended on one side than on the 
other ; but this latter characteristic may be only apparent, as from the 
sinuous outline of the nests, it is not easy to tell the exact form when 
cutting out a vertical. section of them. In Sketch No. 7, Plate VIII., is an 
instance of a aay straight nest, with a chamber extended pretty equally 
on all sides, ith a very long and narrow tube aggre: descend- 
ing from the caren 
