Cambridge. — On a new Sj^ecies of Trapdoor Sjnder. 285 



value ; the same peculiarity is observable in nests of Atypus. Mr. Gillies 

 has probably found out their true significance — that is, as receptacles for 

 the egg cocoons. Perhaps the swelling of the egg cocoon, as the eggs 

 advanced towards maturity, may, in some instances, have tended to increase 

 the enlargement. 



In maldng these observations on the nests of New Zealand trapdoor 

 spiders, I have not had any examples of the nests before me ; but from Mr. 

 Gillies' paper, I conclude that he has had evidence of one nest only (pi. 

 viii., fig. 1) of the double-door branched wafer-lid type, all the rest being 

 single-door unbranched wafer-lid nests ; the latter, however, presenting some 

 small variations in curvature, and in the enlargement of a portion to receive 

 the egg cocoon. All the spiders received by myself, I conclude, from their 

 structural and special characters, to be, as before observed, of one species 

 only, which varies chiefly in size ; the varieties of depth, continuity, and 

 confluence of markings not being of specific value. The real maker of the 

 nest (fig. 1, pi. viii.,) I conclude, therefore, to be yet undetermined. This 

 is a point for future research, and upon which I think Mr. Gillies may be 

 able to find further evidence. 



Should Mr. Gillies kindly honour me with any more materials, I would 

 ask for the nests, and the spiders found in them, to be in every instance 

 carefully labelled and kept separate from all others.* It is most iDrobable 

 that there are several species of trapdoor spiders in New Zealand, Mr. 

 Gillies speaks of one with a "peculiarly large and broad cephalo-thorax " 

 (1. c, p. 225). No such example was contained among those sent to me ; 

 but this character (unless i)roduced by an accidental crush) would certainly 

 be of specific value, in spite of the most exact similarity of the nest to that 

 of others ; for at present I take it, that although a different type of nest is 

 conclusively specific in its value, yet all nests of exactly the same type are 

 not necessarily so, since spiders of even different genera ( Cteniza and 

 Nemesia) form nests of the same type — viz., unbranched simjle-door cork-lid, 

 and to these, I beheve, I may add a species of another genus Idiops 

 (I. syriacics, Cambr.) as also a fabricator of a nest of this type. 



The strongest differ^ential specific characters among the Araneidea are 

 usually shown in the adult male; this sex should, therefore, be carefully 

 sought. So far as I am aware, the males of trapdoor spiders are not 



* The spiders last sent to me by Capt. Hutton were indeed carefully separated and 

 labelled, -with notes on the labels, referring to the numbers of the nests in Mr. Gillies' 

 paper ; but owing to the fracture of several of the larger bottles, the whole package was 

 so soaked in spuit, that some of the labels had come off, and the writing on others was 

 quite illegible. A single number written on a small piece of parchment, and placed inside 

 the tube with the specimen, is the best mode of distinction ; any notes can then be made 

 by letter, and should be numbered to correspond with the parchment number in the tube. 



