THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST. 75 
spider is only about half out of the hole. The door comes over 
and down as quickly and as smoothly as if on hinges with a 
patent stop to prevent slamming. 
About noon the lid of one of the spiders’ holes was taken 
away and placed about 4 inches from the hole. The next morn- 
ing the lid was in its right position, covering the hole. About 
5 or 5.30 p.m. on another day when the spiders seemed to be 
closing up their holes for the night, some rather mean tricks 
were played on several of them. The doors were taken off four 
or five holes and the spiders replaced them within two to ten 
minutes; the smallest spiders seeming to take the minimum, and 
the largest the maximum time. In the case of most of the holes 
this was repeated. Then two small holes close together were 
selected; in the case of No. 1, after I had twice removed the lid 
and he had replaced it, I again took it off and this time placed 
it about 1 inch from the hole, upside down, that is, in the wrong 
position for turning over into the hole. As this was a very 
small spider, the distance was about 8 times the diameter of the 
hole. In a few minutes he came up again, facing the point 
where the door should have been, and reached for it. Not find- 
ing it he made a complete circuit of the hole with his front legs 
reaching out. He then retired to the hole and in a few minutes 
made another circuit, reaching further out this time, but start- 
ing in exactly the same position. He went back into the hole 
and then reappeared, this time to make another complete cir- 
cuit, reaching as far as he could, with only one leg remaining 
in the hole. Then he went back into the hole, and in the dark- 
ness evidently screwed up his courage for a final effort; on his 
re-appearance he sallied forth hurriedly from the hole, going 
about an inch away and just missing the lid. Three times again 
he went back and sallied forth, each time choosing a different 
quadrant of the circle surrounding the hole to explore. The last 
time, having come almost to the position of his first expedition, 
he discovered the lid, seized it hurriedly and dragged it quickly, 
as it was, to the side of the hole. Here he let it go and got 
inside the hole, quickly took up his position for closing and 
pulled the door down; as he had not turned the lid over at all 
it was wrong side up, and showed the slightly concave, smooth 
inner surface instead of the rougher surface which matched the 
surroundings. Later on this lid was taken off again and placed 
beside the hole in the wrong position, and he again pulled it 
over, but did not alter it. 
In the case of No. 2 (a slightly larger spider), the lid was 
taken off and put just beside the hole, but wrong side up. He 
