418 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
The nest itself is composed of a compact mass of closely 
felted glutinous silk traversed irregularly throughout with tubular 
passages, sometimes terminating in small chambers. In these 
latter the egg cocoons are often placed, but by no means always, 
for there seems to be no organised nursery, as with the social 
Hymenoptera. The surrounding foliage is worked in with the 
nest (but I doubt whether this is for protective purposes), the 
exterior being overlaid with a coating of very adhesive silk, 
which is likewise used for making the snares, these being highly 
irregular both in size and shape, but usually taking the form of 
vertical screens. : 
I may here digress to express my belief that the nests of 
some of our Sunbirds, viz. Cinnyris gutturalis, L., C. chalybeus, 
L., Anthodieta collaris, V., &c., are built expressly to resemble 
the nests of Stegodyphus for protective purposes. I have watched - 
the construction in the case of these three species, and the nests 
are ali built in a practically similar manner. No attempt is 
made at concealment, and they hang suspended from the outer- 
most twigs of bushes or low trees at no great distance from 
the ground—positions which are equally affected by the Social 
Spider. The ground work of the dome-shaped nest with its 
small porch is composed of interwoven grass, and the exterior is 
covered with leaves, twigs, &c., bound on with cobwebs, the 
structure when finished having a generally unkempt appearance 
eminently suggestive of the abode of Stegodyphus; and indeed 1 
have been deceived myself in this respect more than once. I 
have observed A. collaris and C. chalybeus collecting web from 
the snares of the large Nephile Spiders in Natal; but a pair of 
C. gutturalis, which built within a few feet of the door of one of 
my huts on the Umfali river, used only the web of Stegodyphus. 
The food of the Social Spiders consists principally of Coleo- 
ptera, for the capture of which their strong glutinous snares are 
admirably adapted. Their chief victims are the Melolonthide, 
such as Anomala, T'rochalus, Adoretus,. &c., which positively 
swarm round trees and bushes on the warm spring evenings after 
the early rains. Among the larger diurnal beetles, the handsome 
Buprestids of the genus Psiloptera fall a frequent prey to their 
wiles, and it seems strange how such securely armour-plated 
insects can afford sustenance to the weak little Spiders; especially 
b 
