250 Transactions.—Zoology. 
Reluctance to desert their nests. 
T have several times throughout this paper referred to the reluctance 
~ shown by these spiders to desert their nests. I am not aware that there is 
any difference of opinion amongst observers upon this point; but, at the 
risk of wearying you, I will relate an experiment carried out by me, which 
bears on the point, and at the same time illustrates some other interesting . 
habits of spider. Inthe end of the month of February last, I was at Awamoko, 
and a servant of mine showed me a nest in clay, got in the bank opposite the 
stable, containing a spider with a number of young ones. He had cut out 
the trap-door and top of the nest before he dug out the nest. Being in hard, 
dry, clay, I determined to take the nest down to Dunedin with its occupants. 
On opening the box in Dunedin, I found the spider still lively and well, and 
so were the young ones.’’ The lid, or trap-door, however, had got broken 
off from the top of the nest with the severe shaking in travelling; but the 
lid itself was sound, and has already been described as trap-door No. 80. I 
kept the sod containing the nest in a shallow box, without any lid, in my 
vinery, so the spider and its young ones could have escaped, if they so 
pleased—the floor of the vinery being dry soil. During the first week after 
its arrival in Dunedin, I brought it out several times on to the verandah to — 
let friends see it, and I always faund the spider lively and well. A holeh ad 
been cut in the side of the sod into the nest, exposing about two nae of 
the tube, just above the débris of fibres, etc., always found in the bottom of 
their nests. You will see this hole in the sod which is now before you, No. 6, 
and, by putting a straw in at this hole, I could always tease the spider and 
her young ones to come out at either end. Finding that she did not feel 
inclined voluntarily to leave her nest, I determined to leave her alone un- 
disturbed, hoping that she might weave a new trap-door to her nest, or per- 
haps jo on the old one. §SoI took a piece of soft clay and moulded it to 
fit the hole in the side of the nest, , and. stuck it on, so as to close up the 
hole. (I have the clay here beside the nest, and you will understand better 
when I fit it on). I also laid the old trap-door in a convenient position for 
the spider to join it on, and for several days placed dead flies and moths 
round the mouth of the nest, and some in it, and did not disturb the nest 
in any way. In a few days, I noticed that no attempt had been made to 
make any use of the old trap-door, but that the flies put into the hole were put 
- out, apparently untouched, and that the lining of the nest, just below where 
the trap-door had been cut out, was drawn in from each side, completely 
closing in the nest and sealing it. A few days after this the clay that I had 
stuck on to close up the hole in the side was either forced off, or had fallen 
off in drying, revealing the fact that the spider had completely woven a 
ne over the hole from the inside, the materials used were the fibres from 
