Annals of the Transvaal Museum. 
219 
a tuft of grass was kicked up disclosing some white webbing, on following 
which downwards, the type of Calommata transvaalicus was discovered. 
The idea then occurred to us, seeing there were so many old lids in certain 
places, that there must be living spiders there, and that by carefully 
digging away the surface soil with a spade, we might disclose hidden nests. 
This proved to be most successful, for in a few minutes we discovered a 
number of specimens, including the type of Pelmatorycter brevipalpis. In 
a subsequent use of the spade in the neighbourhood of Pretoria, at places 
where we had previously searched, we had varying success, and it became 
evident that this method was usefully applied only in places where we found 
old lids and no new ones ; where we were successful, however, the results 
were usually very good, for we found males of Stasimopus robertsi, 
Pelmatorycter pretoriae, var. rufeicens , and P. brevipalpis omy by this 
method. While the use of the spade spoils the upper part of the nests, 
it still indicates what species may be looked for at those places, when 
weather conditions are more favourable. 
During an expedition to Swaziland border a few nests were found 
by searching the bare ground and the higher banks on old disused roads 
between Middelburg, Carolina, Lake Chrissie and Lochiel. At Forbes 
Reef the greater part of our spare time for three days was spent in searching 
for trapdoor spiders in the usual way ; but as no old lids were seen, the 
spade was not brought into use Then on the fourth day a single open 
nest of a young Pelmatorycter was noticed under a stone, which had been 
turned over in a search for lower vertebrates. A careful scrutiny revealed 
the important fact that there were as many nests under the stone as it could 
very well accommodate, representing three species and genera. Subseqeunt 
search showed that nearly every rock or stone, which afforded shelter 
and did not harbour scorpions or centipedes, was the place to look for 
trapdoor spiders. The explanation of this seemed to be that the sloping 
ground and heavy rainfall, characteristic of the locality, militated against 
the existence of the spiders, which survived only where shelter was afforded. 
Upon our return to Pretoria, it was thought, that a careful examination 
of similarly sheltered situations might prove to be the abode of species 
other than those we had so far secured there. Accordingly we proceeded 
to the Magaliesburg and were fortunate enough to find several new species 
as we had anticipated. These were found not only in the soil under the 
rocks but also in the moss-covered banks. 
At Komatipoort the patches of earth lodged between the roots of 
aloes, which grew here and there on flat rocks, were found to contain 
numerous nests of Acanthodon sp ?. Some of these' nests were effectively 
hidden by leaves having' been attached to the lids. On the sides of the 
rocks some bare patches of earth were observed, which had probably been 
denuded of vegetation by the flooding of the adjacent river. Even here 
nests were discovered of Pelmatorycter sp ?. It was thus seen, that one 
should search in all manner of unlikely looking places. Consequently we 
were led to search amongst heaps of dead leaves round the roots of large 
trees and were not surprised to find tha-j these situations also harboured 
trapdoor spiders, for under the leaves and sometimes amongst them, the 
nests of several different species were discovered. 
