Annals of the Transvaal Museum. 
220 
Numerous specimens temporarily assigned to this species were 
discovered wherever search was made, but males not having been found, 
they were not identified. Females with crawling young were frequently 
discovered, a,nd as these appear to differ in different localities, there will 
probably prove to be a number of species ; the nests of these unrecognizable 
forms were found in all manner of situations. It was frequentty found 
that the hoods of nests situated in open ground had been drawn in and 
the entrance thus disfigured ; in some cases ants were found trying to dig 
the spiders out, deep cone-like hollows having been excavated over the 
drawn-in tube, which when examined proved to contain females with 
young. It frequently happens that these delicate hooded entrances 
become spoilt by heavy rains when apparently the spiders may make a 
new entrance with a hood and leave the old entrance blocked up, thus 
leaving a blind passage, which is sometimes used as a place of refuge. Old 
nests may frequently be discovered by looking out for accumulations of 
the white webs of disused entrances, which show up conspicuously on hard 
ground, for by searching very carefully or by digging, one often finds either 
the new entrance or the tube to have been blocked up entirely and the 
spider still in occupation. It seems to be quite a common occurrence 
for most of the trapdoor spiders to remain closed in in the nests for 
considerable periods before they bestir themselves to open the nests again. 
The following are measurements of a. typical nest taken at Roodeplaat : 
Depth of tube 143 mm. 
Width at the entrance (inside edge of rim). 6J mm. 
Length of upper, oblique, portion 28 mm. 
Width at the narrowest part of tube 5 mm. 
Greatest width of tube 7 mm. 
Distance of refuge chamber from bottom 
of tube 13 mm. 
Breadth of iid 6J mm. 
Length of lid (front to back) 8-65 mm. 
Thickness of lid J mm. 
Spiroctenus ( Homostola ) zebrina Pure. 
Localities : Lake Chrissie, Lochiel, Steynsdorp, Oshoek, Tevreden, Eland- 
spruit, Doornhoek, Carolina District ; Forbes Reef, Swaziland ; 
Bon Accord Station, Pretoria District. 
Of the large number of nests discovered between Carolina and 
Swaziland, three sizes of females with young crawling over them were 
taken. The largest was found between Carolina and Lake Chrissie. No 
more specimens were discovered until Lochiel was reached and thence to 
Forbes and Swaziland only smaller sized specimens were taken ; while 
some 2500 feet lower, on the banks of the Komati River, a single very 
small female with young was taken. This is interesting, as it appears to 
be the rule that specimens of birds and mammals are always larger in the 
higher altitudes than members of the same species from the hotter and 
lower levels. All the nests that contained young, and a few that contained 
none, had only one entrance ; but the majority of nests without young 
