240 Transactions.—Zoology. 
other half remains stationary in front of the mouth of the tube. In fact I 
may safely say, that even now the exact position of the mouth of the nest 
defies detection. Nor is this, as you might at first sight, suppose, purely 
accidental, the result of bits of grass having blown against this particular 
nest, for you will find many similar, in such ground, and the fact that the 
nest itself is not raised sufficient to cause a protuberance without the grass, 
and that the bits of grass are all carefully woven into the lid, and tied 
together, and to the ground, and also are so systematically arranged, proves 
that it is the work of a cunning artificer, it is the result of design and not 
of mere accident. This trap-door, also gives evidence that its owner did 
not always conceal the entrance to his dwelling in this particular way. For 
on the top and back part of the trap-door you will see the remains of 
lycopods and mosses, which had been planted on it, and no doubt grew 
vigorously, when the surface around was thickly coated with a carpet of 
similar plants, before the destroying fire had passed over it. Considering 
that it is not over twenty years since this part of the country has been in- 
habited by man, so far as we know, and that fires must have been few and 
far between, it is not easy to understand how this tiny insect could have 
so soon arrived at such perfection in this particular mode of concealment. 
Trap-door, No. 4, is of the same type, only with bits of burnt grass and 
rootlets all over the lid, but it has the same mode of deception on the out- 
side of the mouth of the nest, as the previously described one, and with 
this addition, that there is a root of grass overhanging it, and also the 
burnt stumps of a grass-tussock immediately in front of it, which at once 
takes away the idea of the grass having been accidentally blown into its 
present position, for if it had been blown by wind, this natural break-wind, 
being much higher, would have caught the bits of grass and detained them. 
Trap-door, No.7, is also splendidly concealed, though in a different way, 
suitable to the circumstances. It is flush with the ground, which is pierced 
by little rootlets, and accordingly little twigs and roots are woven in and 
left sticking up, whilst seeds and bits of grass are not wanting to the cover- 
ing of the lid. By a bold stroke of artful deception, a sprig of heath, an 
inch and a half long is laid, as if carelessly, across the mouth of the nest 
and fixed there, rendering it almost impossible to discover the exact spot 
where the mouth enters. 
trap-door, No. 8, we have a repetition of this plan of drawing a 
herring seross the scent, by the attachment of a piece of twig half-an-inch 
long to the lip of the trap-door, the natural curve of the twig being taken 
advantage of to conceal the opening of the lid, the surroundings on the 
surface being rootlets, and twigs of heath and grass, the whole affair being 
most deceptive by its very simplicity. It is flat with the surface of the 
