Linnean Society. 5023 



spiders would have escaped through it when I extracted the sacs: this was never 

 the case. 



'"A circumstance in connexion with one of these nests may throw some light 

 upon the kind of food on which these interesting creatures live, or at any rate, 

 which they occasionally meet with : on drawing out one of the sacs I observed a worm 

 at the lower end, partially within the sac and partially outside ; and that the spider 

 had evidently been eating a considerable portion of its anterior extremity. It is not 

 unlikely that this kind of food may frequently fall to the lot of the spider, a poor 

 worm, in its mining progress, blindly thrusting its head into the spider's den ! The 

 spider, removed from her sac, is extremely slow, sluggish, lethargic, and apparently 

 helpless ; several which I kept in a glass remained nearly motionless at the bot- 

 tom ; and one which I introduced into another glass along with another species 

 (Epeifa diadema), was instantly attacked by the latter, and soon killed or rendered 

 powerless, offering but little resistance, a result quite different to what I had expected 

 from its formidable appearance. 



" ' This spider, when full-grown, is about three-quarters of an inch in length, and of 

 a brown colour ; the forceps very strong, and furnished, along the keel, with twelve 

 sharp triangular teeth or spines ; the extremity is armed with a pointed curved claw, 

 two and a half lines in length ; there are two four-jointed palpi, three lines in length : 

 the two mandibles are furnished with small teeth, almost concealed by a fringe 

 of strong hairs of a reddish colour: I am not certain whether the row of spines 

 is single or double : the first pair of legs is the longest, and they diminish in length 

 to the last pair, which is shortest: there are four spinnerets; the longer "pair have 

 three articulations, and are situated above the other pair : the eyes appear grouped 

 together on the anterior part of the cephaiothorax, which projects in front, is shining, 

 and destitute of hair: all the other parts of the spider are covered, but not thickly, 

 with fine brown hairs ; these are most numerous on the abdomen. 



" ' I have no doubt these spiders may be found scattered along the southern coast of 

 England wherever the Hastings sand formation predominates. I enclose a full-grown 

 female ; one of the tubes entire ; another broken off at one end ; an example of the 

 exposed portion or cocoon-like extremity cut off, and another of the same part 

 cut open longitudinally.' 



" It may be added that Mr. Brown did not find a male, and wonders where they 

 §ecrete themselves. 



" From a careful examination of the purse or exposed portion of the tube, it 

 is evident that there is no aperture by which the spider can pass into the open air : 

 having with a pair of scissors cut off the purse, I find it can be readily inflated by means 

 of a glass pipe introduced at the cut end, but it does not appear air-tight : when thus 

 inflated, the minute apertures are probably closed. I have been unable to find these 

 apertures in the specimen on the table ; but the experiment proves, in a satisfactory 

 manner, that, if present, they must open inwardly, and thus would, of course, 

 be closed by the pressure of air from within. Of their existence I have little doubt, 

 and the fact of my not finding them I attribute solely to a want of sufficient skill in 

 manipulation and observation. The object of these valvular openings must be to 

 admit air, for this could not enter the tube by any other means, and the spider, 

 being a pulmonary breather, must require considerable supplies of oxygen. 



" Returning to the subject of food, no one will doubt for a moment that a female 

 spider, maturing her eggs for extrusion, is possessed of a good appetite, and has every 



