590 A new Trap-door Spider. [July, 
earth, but seemed to be disgusted with its crumbling. She then 
tried to bore a hole by pushing down with her mandibles while 
turning her body around. She evidently wished to hide her 
head from the light, for after making a hole 2™ deep she remained 
with her head at the bottom. To-day, Jan. 14, ’86, the soil in the 
woods having thawed sufficiently, I prepared a jar of moist fer- 
ruginous clay, very much like that of which the nest is con- 
structed that came from Pittsborough. Upon this I puta fine 
mat of fresh moss, covering the earth except a spot at one side 
2%4™ in diameter. In this I placed the spider at noon. I then 
covered it from the light. As I returned to my room after din- 
ner, she was resting in a hole 3° deep which she had excavated, 
and small pellets of earth were placed against the moss at the 
mouth of the hole. She would not work during the day unless 
I covered the jar from the light. During the evening, by lamp 
light, I had the pleasure of seeing her make another door. It 
required about one and a half hours, Only one piece of moss 
was used, and that I let drop into the hole while she was at work. 
This seemed very strange, for the tube was the only place not 
covered with moss, and to save her the trouble of cutting the 
moss I had strewn loosened particles about the hole. In this 
case all of the earth used in the construction of the door 
was taken from the bottom of the hole. The door being made 
almost entirely with the clay was very conspicuous in comparison 
with the surrounding moss; though the door fitted very neatly, 
the tube being built up to a level with the top of the moss. This 
_ time instead of making the hinge against the side of the jar 5 
was made on the opposite side of the tube. Surely this persist- 
ence is equal to that shown by the spider who, making her w 
the thirteenth time, taught a general lesson of perseverance. 
~ Iwas unable to understand how the resistance to opening tt 
_ door was offered, if the spider fastened its fangs and all of its 
_ claws into the under surface of the door, as Mr. Moggridge 
cS states! A reference to Plate xxiv, Figs. 3 and 4, will show ee 
the 
_ tion of the tube from å to c was not lined with silk. The spider 
evidently not admiring the cork at d for a bottom to 
carried in pellets of earth and bits of moss as shown at & 
: 2 * Harvesting Ants and Trap-door Spiders, pp- 95-96. 
