SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



165 



NOTES <>.\ ATYPUS. 



PiY Frank Percy Smith. 



ATYPUS a flint* FAchw. (A.sultzeri Bl., I. piceus 



Sultz.), commonly known as the "trap-door 



spider," is one which, although very local and 



seldom seen unless carefully searched for, has 



Fig. 2. External portion of tube of 

 Atypus at knife point. 



Fig. 1. Locality near Hastings for Atypus. 



attracted a good deal of attention. During the 

 early part of this year I had occasion to visit 

 Hastings, a 



w e 1 1 - k n w n 

 lncality for this 

 species, and 

 was fortunate 

 enough to ob- 

 tain a number 

 of adult fe- 

 males. Mr. Con- 

 nold, Hon. Sec. 

 of the Hastings 

 Natural His- 

 tory Society^ 

 ace ompanied 



me, and took the photographs here reproduced. 

 The greatest difficulty experienced in the photo- 

 graphing was that of bringing the lens within a 

 .short distance of the ground, and at the same time 

 preserving the steadiness necessary for a com- 

 paratively long exposure. After a considerable 

 amount of manoeuvring, however, the pictures 

 were taken, and with far better results than I 

 anticipated, considering the accuracy required to 

 portray such obscure structures. Two of them 

 represent the tubes as they appeared when first 

 discovered. A third photograph shows a tube with 

 the earth removed so as to expose its entire length. 

 The fourth shows the hillock from which was taken 

 the nest indicated by means of a penknife. 



On returning to London I at once visited Hamp- 

 stead Heath, Mr. F. Enock's famous hunting- 

 ground, but was unable to find a single specimen 

 in this locality. On October 9, however, whilst 



collecting on Wimbledon Coi a, 1 noticed a 



mound of .sandy earth, which from its structure, 

 aspect, and vegetation al once suggested the idea 

 of looking for Ityjpus. During the half-hour of 

 daylighl which I had at my disposal, I carefullj 

 investigated the mound, ami had the satisfaction 

 of finding the remains of an old tube. Living 

 spiders would probably have been found had the 

 light permitted of further search. 



A few notes on the creature's structure and 

 habits may be of use. The female is about b 

 inch in length, exclusive of thefalcesand spinners ; 

 the male is considerably smaller. The falces are 

 extremely prominent and very powerful, and the 

 movable fang is capable of motion in a vertical 

 plane. In all other British spiders the fang moves 

 either in a horizontal or an oblique plane. The 

 spiracular openings are four in number and are 

 very distinct. The eyes are eight in number and 

 are closely grouped on the anterior part of the 

 caput. Two groups of three eyes each are in the 

 form of a triangle, and the two remaining eyesi 

 which are the largest of the eight, are placed 

 transversely between these triangles. 



The female spider constructs a tube, partly 



1 mried in the 



WM 





of iinotli 



Of 



earth and partly 

 lying upon it. 

 This tube varies 

 in length ac- 

 cording to the 

 age of the 

 spider, and is 

 often 12 inches 

 long or even 

 more, when the 

 creature is 

 adult. The ex- 



ternal |part 

 the tube is in- 

 termixed with 

 fragments of 

 s and and debris, 

 and, after hav- 

 ing been ex- 

 posed to atmo- 

 spheric influ- 

 ences for some 

 time, is most 

 difficult to de- 

 tect. There is 

 no trap-door. 



The spider lies in wait in some part of the tube, the 

 external portion being connected with the crea- 

 ture's spinners by means of a number of deli- 



show the 



entire tube of Atypus. 



