Gituies.—On the Habits of the Trap-door Spider. 239 
Town splits, and being rather old, they are curled up slightly at the edges 
by the sun. The consequence is that, at the drip, the line of roof is wavy 
like the corrugations of iron, though wider, and all the water from the roof 
falls from a row of spouts, and being thus concentrated, makes a row of 
holes in the ground all along the building corresponding to the corrugations. 
This nest was just at the corner where the minimum of water falls; but 
this cunning observer, seeing the row of holes in regular succession, com- 
pletes the series by adding one at its proper distance at the corner, which 
exactly imitates such holes, as you will see on examining it. So complete 
was the deception that, though I and others must have seen this hole scores 
of times during a course of years, being in a much frequented and pro- 
minent position, we never thought it was anything else than a rain drip- 
hole, and it was not till the accident of my having dropped something at 
the spot led me to examine the hole narrowly, that I discovered it was in 
reality a trap-door spider’s nest. With reluctance I refrain from comment- 
ing upon what this marvellous piece of deception teaches us. The simplicity 
and prominence of its mode of construction were the very perfection of con- 
cealment. | . 
Somewhat akin to the principle brought into operation in concealing 
this nest, is that displayed in No. 5, though the materials used are quite 
different. This nest was got in ground that had been burned not very long 
before. Those of you who have lived in the country, must have noticed 
that where the white tussock is the prevailing herbage, after a fire has run 
over the ground, there remain lots of bits of dead grass leaves, which on 
flat exposed situations get blown about by the wind, till they are caught in 
little heaps by some protuberance on the ground, or some twig or plant left 
unburned. Against these they are blown by the prevailing wind in a sort 
of semicircular form, round the protuberance, and the action of the rain on 
the dust, which also collects there, mats them together, and they remain 
there till they decay. In bare ground, therefore, these little semicircular 
collections of grass are decided features in the aspect of the surface. This 
trap-door, No. 5, is an exact imitation of that natural phenomenon. The 
mouth of the nest, and the ground in front, is neatly planted with bits of 
dry grass, some with the ends burnt, and all arranged in a semicircular 
form with the ends free, precisely as I have described, and, as many 
of you must have observed a hundred times over on such ground. And 
what makes the concealment more complete is, that the lip of the lid 
is not placed, as you would naturally expect, at either edge of this little 
heap of grass under its shelter, but about the middle of the heap, so that 
when you go to open the trap-door you have to insert your knife in the 
middle of the grass, and one-half of it opens on the trap-door, while the 
