THE FLOKAL MAGAZINE. 



FEBRUARY, 1875. [No. 38. 



NEW SERIES.] 



REVIEW. 



Supplement to Harvesting Ants and Trap-door Spiders. 

 By J. Traherne Moggridge, F.L.S., F.Z.S. With 

 specific descriptions of the Spiders. By the Rev. 

 O. Pickard-Cambridge. L. Reeve & Co. 



With this welcome addition to a valuable and interesting 

 work we receive also the sad intelligence of the decease 

 of its gifted and indefatigable author, a loss which will 

 be felt and deplored by a large circle of friends, and by 

 naturalists generally, for few men in so short a life and 

 with so small a stock of physical strength have accom- 

 plished so much and so well as Mr. Moggridge. His 

 " Contributions to the Flora of Mentone" was a valuable 

 addition to Botanical Science, displaying acuteness of 

 observation with a sound and discriminating judgment, 

 and investing what are too commonly regarded as mere 

 weeds with an interest unknown to those who regard 

 flowers as something only to please the eye. His next 

 Work, of which the volume before us is a continuation, 

 carries us into quite a new and fertile field of research, 

 and graphically describes a series of observations on the 

 habits and dwellings of harvesting ants and trap-door 

 spiders. In this the qualities which distinguished Mr. 

 Moggridge as a naturalist are brought still more promi- 

 nently into view, while the novelty of the subject and 

 the character of the information conveyed, invest it with 

 an interest little short of romance. The first part of the 

 volume before us details the results of further observations 

 on ants' nests in various localities, and of a series of ex- 

 periments made with a view to discover the cause of the 

 non-germination of seeds in ants' nests. The result, 

 however, is only of a negative character, showing that it 

 does not proceed from any exhalation or exudation from 

 the ants themselves. The second and by far the larger 

 part of the work is devoted to trap-door spiders. In 

 this, besides much additional information respecting 

 spiders and their nests previously described, we have 

 descriptions of three new types of trap-door nest, and 

 eight new species of spider. As might be surmised, 

 trap-door spiders are not confined to this part of the 

 world. Our author received specimens from California, 

 and gives us the biography of one which, at the bottom 

 of its nest, survived the journey from that far distant 

 land, and was for some months kept as a guest at Rich- 

 mond. As a specimen of the entertainment as well as 

 instruction afforded by this little book, we give the 

 following extract : — 



When at Hyeres on the 11th of May, 1873, the evening 

 being very warm and a bright moon shining, I went at 8 30 

 p.m. with my father and sister to see what the spiders 

 would be doing on a hedge bank where we had previously 

 marked five cork and eight wafer nests. The moonlight did 

 not fall upon this spot, but I was provided with a lantern, 

 and by its light the nests at first appeared to be tightly 

 closed, but we soon perceived first one and then another with 

 the door slightly raised, ready to close on the smallest alarm, 

 whether from a footfall or from the flickering of the lamp. 

 When the light of the lantern was steady it did not appear 

 to frighten the spiders in the least, even when brought to 

 within a few inches of the door, and this enabled me to watch 

 them very closely. On either side of the raised door of one 

 of the wafer nests I could see the feet of the spider projecting, 

 and just at that moment I caught sight of a beetle close at 

 hand, feeding on the topmost spray of some small plant 

 below. Using every precaution, 1 contrived to gather the 

 spray without shaking off the beetle, and gradually pushed 

 it nearer and nearer to the nest. When it almost touched 

 the lip of the nest the door flew open, and the spider snatched 

 at the beetle and dragged it down below. 



For a few seconds the door remained tightly closed, and 

 then, to our great surprise, was suddenly opened again, and 

 the beetle was east alive and unharmed out of the nest. I 

 immediately secured the insect, which proved to be the com- 

 mon Chrifsomela Banksii. 



I cannot doubt that this beetle was distasteful in some 

 way to the spider, for it was neither so large nor so powerful 

 as many beetles the remains of which I have found in the 

 spider's nests, and, besides, it did not escape from the nest, 

 but it was distinctly rejected by its captor. 



This little episode was scarcely ended when I espied a 

 wood-louse (Oniscus) walking down the bank, not far from 

 another of these wafer nests. By a little guidance I 

 managed so to turn its course that this unsuspicious crusta- 

 cean went straight to the very point I wished, and made as 

 if it would walk over the spider's door; but no sooner was 

 it well within reach than, quick as thought, the spider 

 clutched it and dragged it in. No rejection followed on this 

 capture, and though I could not actually witness the conclu- 

 sion of this adventure, I do not doubt that it ended in a 

 tragedy and a supper. 



This part is illustrated by eight plates from the 

 author's own hand, and is followed by Mr. O. Pickard- 

 Cambridge's specific descriptions. We do not know a 

 book more calculated to encourage young persons, tou- 

 rists, and residents at home and abroad to an intelligent 

 observation of nature than this. With such untrodden 

 paths beneath our feet, no one need despair of being able 

 to contribute something new and interesting to our 

 stock of knowledge. It should be borne in mind that 

 the entire edifice of natural science — vast as it is, yet 

 far from complete — has been built up, and assumes its 

 present symmetrical form, by the due arrangement under 

 master-builders at home of the isolated facts collected 



