Gitt1es.—On the Habits of the Trap-door Spider. 253 
all, and the bottom of this, and all the nests examined in this locality were 
not lined with silk.’’ On the same day, later on, the following entry ap-_ 
pears in my note-book :—‘ Found another nest with the lid sealed up, and 
on digging found the legs and hard parts of the body only, of the inmate, 
at the bottom. It either had died, or been killed and eaten.’’ No further 
remark is made, as I felt very puzzled about it. From that time till the 
26th November, repeated instances of sealed up nests came under my 
notice, but no new fact, nor any further light was thrown on the subject. 
On that date, however, the following entry appears in my field-book :— 
‘26th November, 1874. At Awamoko River. Nests very plentiful and of 
all sizes. One nest with raised lid, I found embedded in clay, and on 
raising it, found it had been sealed down. The lid is fully more than half- 
an-inch thick, with a lining of silk near the top, and on the bottom, and a 
sort of cap of soil on the top. The thickness was mostly made up with 
earth woven in between the silk. I secured the lid and put it in a match- 
box, but found, on reaching home, that it had all crumbled down, except the 
silk linings.” It is now before you, No. 22. ‘I dug this nest out with my 
knife, and found it not very deep, as it came upon the rock about eight 
inches down. On removing the lid, I put down a straw to see how deep it 
was, and on withdrawing it, I felt something resisting, and on pulling it out, 
I brought up a beautiful white bag of eggs (Cocoon No. 2.) On digging out 
the nest, I got the spider at the bottom, but unfortunately it had been 
pierced with my lmife; it was alive, but unfit for a specimen. In the 
bottom of the hole, was a quantity of what is apparently moss, and brown 
fibre, and remains of insects. I could not detect any other hole for ingress 
or egress; though either, it must have had some way of getting in after 
covering the clay up about its trap-door, or this must have been done by 
some other spider. Query! Do they shut themselves up to hatch their 
eggs, and if so, do the males close them in? It is possible this may have 
had another gallery, as in digging down I came on another tube going 
downwards, though no hole or trap-door could be found on the surface 
corresponding to it. This second branch or gallery went deeper than the 
other, and in it I found another spider, ‘much smaller than the other, but 
unfortunately not expecting it there, I had pierced it with my knife; I 
regretted this, as it may have been the male. I cannot be sure that there 
was any connection between the two holes, as I did not see them actually 
bifurcate, but I almost certain they were connected, as they were so close, 
and also from the direction they took, and no second hole or trap-door being 
discoverable above. If they were connected, and I really think so, this is 
the first (and I may add now, the only) instance in which I have found two 
spiders in one hole. Could it have been the male and female sealed up 
_ together ? 
