Dec., 1905.] 
Chelanops oblongus. 
415 
within, supported by several fibres of silk which cross and 
recross the enclosed space, becomes torpid and moults in two or 
three days. It then remains in its nest for one or two days 
longer, or until its cuticle hardens, when it is ready to break 
through the wall of its little prison. (See notes Jar C above; 
also figure.) 
Some writers convey the idea that these nests are built by 
the mother for the entire brood after they leave the pouch, and 
that they remain there until sufficiently hardened. Judging by 
my own observations this is not the case. 1 have never found 
but a single specimen in a nest of this kind, and that always an 
Fig. I. Moulting Xest of Chelanops oblongus. 
immature one. (I collected and observed not less than two 
dozen such nests.) Furthermore, I usually found the empty skin 
in the nest and sometimes the skin and the animal, in fact I all 
but saw them in the act of moulting. (See notes under Jar C.) 
As I have never found an adult, with or without eggs, in a nest, 
I think there can be no doubt that the casting or moulting nests 
are built by single immature individuals for a safe retreat during 
moulting and not by the parent for the entire brood. Mr. 
Banks has this statement in his paper (III) which corresponds 
exactly with my observations: “Many were young and had 
formed little cases of silk and earth in which to pass the moulting 
period.’’ This was reported by Mr. Hubbard for Garypus 
bicornis, Bks., which lives between the laminae of rocks at 
Specimen Ridge, Yellow Stone National Park. 
