16 
one specimen of the male spicier. 
My first specimens of the basket-nests were found on 
a small tree, badly infested with white wax scale {Cero- 
plastus destructor) , upon which numerous Gravel-mound, 
Meat Ants (Tridomyrmex detectiis) were coming and 
going. 
There were two basket-nests close together, one a little 
above the other, on the slender twigs of the tree. I have 
observed since that although two nests are often found 
close together solitary nests are not uncommon. They are 
like miniature birds’ nests, pocket-shaped, f in. deep and 
i in. in diameter, with a neat circular hole near the top, 
I in. in diameter and with a hood over the hole. The nest 
is strengthened by some of the threads of silk (or fibre) 
which are thicker than the others. They are woven like 
basketwork, but irregularly, and are light brown or biscuit 
coloured. 
‘'Let an incautious ant approach one of- the Basket- 
Nest Spiders too closely, and in an instant it is seized and 
dragged witliin the den, where its juices are sucked from 
its body.” (McKeown in “Aust. Spiders.”) 
From my observations, it appears that Tridomyrmex 
detectus is the only species of ant eaten by this spider. 
The female spider is about 7 mm. long. The cephalo- 
thorax is 8 mm. long by 2.5 mm. broad by 2.5 mm. thick. 
Its colour, as viewed from above, is chestnut brown with 
a cream-coloured margin. The abdomen is almost globular, 
5 mm. in diameter, cream-coloured, and has concentric 
rings of pitted dots. The abdomen increases in size in the 
egg-laying season. The spider is well hidden in the basket- 
nest. 
The ants feed on several different kinds of scale in- 
sects and any small tree near the gravel mound nest, if it 
is frequented by the ants, may harbour basket-nest spiders. 
In January, some of the basket-nests contained egg- 
sacs. The fifty' or more eggs were at the bottom of the nest, 
and were sealed by a thin,, white disc of paper-like material. 
I put some of these nests in a glass jar, and kept them 
under observation. Some spiderlings hatched out, and I 
found that they stayed in the egg-sac under the white disc 
for about a Aveek before they left the nest. 
Several days after I had put the basket-nests in the 
glass jar, I observed a male spider which evidently had 
been hiding in one of the nests. It is about as long as the 
female, but its abdomen is narroAver. The cephalothorax is 
4 mm. long by 3 mm. broad, and is amber-coloured. Tlie 
oval abdomen is high in the front, 5 mm. long by 2.5 
mm, broad. Its colour is brown with white markings — two 
