54 JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 



inches to a foot in length. The deepest one measured was fifteen 

 inches. In order to trace their direction in dry, friable soil, I 

 sometimes poured plaster of Paris in at the door ; and I found this 

 was of considerable assistance. In this way I obtained two spiders 

 embedded in one hole. 



i have observed plugging up of the holes on various occasions ; 

 but not to such a puzzling extent as Mr. Gillies has. I am not at all 

 sure that it was the work of the spider. In some cases it seemed 

 possible that it might have been caused by the washing down of the 

 soil from above on to the lid. However I was not able to determine 

 definitely that this had taken place in any particular instance. In 

 one case on raising a trap-door, the mouth of the nest beneath it was 

 found to be completely closed by a layer of cobweb. This was on 

 March 28th, 1890. On the 13th April, on examining the same hole, 

 I found a small opening in the web, but not large enough to admit of 

 the exit of the spider. This small aperture had probably resulted 

 from stress of weather, or some other natural causes. Being afraid 

 that it might increase, and thus definite proof of the continued 

 confinement of the spider might be lost, I dug out the nest, and 

 found its owner at the bottom, at the depth of a little more than a 

 foot, in a comatose condition. I kept this spider in an empty bottle 

 for some hours, but it remained motionless, and it was not till it had 

 been in spirits for a minute or two that it commenced to move*. It 

 can scarcely have been a case of hibernation as the season was not 

 far enough advanced for that ; and the spiders certainly remain 

 active until the end of June. Whatever may be the explanation of 

 these closed nests, they are not unfrequently to be met with, and 

 certainly require further investigation. 



On the other hand, inhabited nests without doors of any kind, 

 are sometimes to be lound. A number of such occur on a hill slope 

 on the east side of Mt. Pleasant, at an elevation of six or seven 

 hundred feet. In the locality referred to the surface of the ground 

 is covered to the depth of an inch or two with loose sticks and dried 

 leaves, that have fallen from coprosmas and other shrubby plants 

 growing near. Here several lidless nests were discovered coming up 

 through the dead twigs. The spider had probably found it impossible 

 to attach its door to the loose sticks ; but in some cases, as a slight 

 protection, the web was turned over at the edge and carried along 

 the twigs for the distance of half an inch all round. A spider was 

 taken from one of these holes : and where the ground was free from 

 leaves close at hand, trap-door nests of the ordinary type were found. 



I have only a few remarks to offer as to the habits of the animal. 

 I have not seen them outside of their nests during the day. 

 Apparently they seek their food only by night. After dark one 

 evening in March, 1890, I took a light into the garden, and on 

 approaching a particular trap-door that I had frequently noted before, 

 I saw it quickly shut down through the space of about one-sixth of 



* (I am informed by a friend in the Oamaru district, that he has frequently seen 

 trap-door spiders running along the ground, pursued by a small, black wasp — probably 

 a species of Fompilus. These wasps sting the spiders, and by this means render them 

 comatose. In this condition they are stored up in the wasp's nest, and serve as food 

 for the larva. This may be the explanation of the fact mentioned by Mr. Laing. — 

 Edit.) 



