1886,] A new Trap-door Spider. 585 
persons, who came to my room, had the fortune to witness the 
operation of digging out the earth. The spider soon became 
bold, paid no attention to movements in the room, and permitted 
me to watch her very closely. Occasionally, by using both palpi 
at once, the dirt was flirted suddenly from the grasp of the man- ` 
dibles with such force as to strike against the opposite side of the 
jar. Had it not been for this obstruction the dirt must have been 
thrown three or four feet. 
After depositing each load on the edge of the hole, the spider 
would turn around again for another load, but before picking it 
up she would project the posterior pair of spinnerets about 5™™ 
from the abdomen and carefully knead the viscid liquid upon and _ 
around the freshly placed pellet of earth and over the edge fora 
distance of 4 or 5™™ for the purpose of making the soil adhere 
and prevent its caving in. In Plate xxii, Fig, 4, the spider is shown 
in the act of removing a pellet of earth from her mandibles. In 
Fig. 5 is represented the application of the viscid liquid. The 
ends of the spinnerets are applied to the surface alternately, as 
shown in the illustration. The legs took no part in the applica-_ 
tion of the viscid liquid; nor did the liquid form a thread when 
the spinnerets were drawn from the surface, as I have since seen | 
it when the spider was crawling about on the surface of the > 
earth ; oo 
* 
3 As I am now writing, Jan. 16, 1886, 11.55 P.M., the spider is crawling bo ton 
the surface of as about 
the earth are loosely matted together in the path of the spider about the — 
