Page:Harvesting ants and trap-door spiders. Notes and observations on their habits and dwellings (IA harvestingantstr00mogg).pdf/131

 Fig. B in this plate represents a moss-covered sod pierced by the tube of a nest, the door of which is entirely concealed from view, and only discovered when opened as at B 1.

This nest was found accidentally by Mr. Robert Lightbody, who kindly brought it to me, its presence having been betrayed by the tube, which he happened to cut through in digging up a plant. The moss on the door grew as vigorously, and had in every way the same appearance, as that which was rooted in the surrounding earth; and so perfect was the deception that I found it impossible to detect the position of the closed trap even when holding it in my hand. There can be no doubt that many nests escape observation in this way, and the artifice is the more surprising because there is strong reason to believe that this beautiful door-garden is deliberately planted with moss by the spider, and not the effect of a mere chance growth. I shall adduce evidence in support of this statement by-and-by.

I alluded to the nest C (Plate VIII.) when speaking of the claw marks which it exhibits, and that figured at D and D 1 in this plate is merely an instance of a good example of this type. I have taken nests of N. cæmentaria both at Cannes and Mentone, and have little doubt that this species will be discovered at many points along the Riviera. I detected two abandoned nests of the cork type, which I fully expect had belonged to N. cæmentaria, in an enclosed space called the Campagne de Garonne in Marseilles itself. These nests lay in the little mound of undisturbed earth between the divided trunks of the small olive-trees, and I do not doubt that if I had had time