John Traherne Moggridge

“ At Mentone two distinct spiders construct nests of the cork type, one of these being a Nemesia and the other a Cteniza. They are as unlike each other as they well can be, and it seems remarkably strange that their nest-building instinct should be so similar. The nest of the Cteniza is indeed shallower than that of the Nemesia, and a practised eye can usually trace a difference between the slightly less angular lower surface and more semi-circular outline of the door of the former, and the more abruptly bevelled and more circular door of the latter. ”

“ In April, 1873, the surface door of a wafer-nest together with a very small portion of the tube was brought to me from the summit of the Aiguille mountain, near Mentone. I was greatly surprised to learn that a trap-door spider could live in such a situation, for the earth on that plateau, which has an elevation of 4032 feet above the sea, is always frozen hard for weeks and even months together during the winter, and snow frequently lingers there. The spider, therefore, which endures these conditions is scarcely likely to be of the same species as any one of those inhabiting the lower country. ”

“ One may then see the worker ants walk with impunity straight [ 163 ] up to the very noses of the lizards, while the male or female which should chance to straggle in the same direction would infallibly be eaten up. The lizards plainly show their fear of the workers by the way in which, when they make up their mind to try a dash at some outlying part of the ant colony, they leap through the lines in the utmost haste as if traversing a ring of fire. ”

“ When we remember that there are minute hymenopterous insects which lay their eggs within the eggs of the spiders, we can see how important it may be that the entrance to a nest, which is at once nursery and stronghold, should be closed by a well-fitting door, and one which may exclude, not only the larger and more powerful enemies of the full-grown spiders, but also the tiny and almost imperceptible assailants of the eggs and young. ”

“ The rarity or complete absence of the wings of insects which habitually fly rather than crawl on the ground, and my inability to discover either snares or any evidence that these spiders ever leave the nest, lead me to believe that they live (at any rate from October to May) by dragging into their nests any insects which approach within reach.
Ants, earwigs, beetles, and wood-lice are precisely the very creatures which would fall a prey to the [ 239 ] spider without obliging her to leave her nest, and it is accordingly their remains that we find. ”

“ It seems likely that, if other harvesting ants do exist in Europe they may belong to one of these six species; for we have seen (Ants and Spiders, p. 59) that all the ants which are known to possess this habit are either members of the genus Atta or belong to genera closely related to it.
In the case of Pheidole megacephala (the only other European ant which I have detected collecting seeds in large numbers) , I have never been able to find granaries or subterranean stores of any kind, though I have frequently made extensive search for them, and explored, to all appearance, the whole nest. ”

“ Some construct no nest at all or only an irregular web, and live under stones; others, like Theraphosa Blondii, make a simple cylindrical tunnel, or, like those just described, a tube having a prolonged, uncovered, funnel-shaped mouth: others again, belonging to the genus Atypus, form the curious and as yet imperfectly-understood nests with a silken tubular lining, part of which hangs down outside; while on the highest rung of the architectural ladder, stand the builders of the veritable trap-door nests. ”

“ But, as it is, the work of opening the door, snatching in an ant, and closing it again, is but the affair of a second or two, and before the companions of the victim have time to realize the nature of the phenomenon, the gaping earth has closed again and become once more, to all appearance, part of the solid and trustworthy ground. ”

“ For example, the lizards will lie in wait for and greedily seize and devour the winged males and females of structor and barbara, though they dare not attack the assembled workers. It is curious to watch the way in which these worker ants will protect the winged ants which are about to leave the nest, by gathering round and swarming over them. When, as often happens, the nest is placed in an old terrace-wall, one may see the lizards creeping along or lying moulded into the inequalities of the stones, all having their eager eyes directed towards the swarm. ”

“ I knew that birds would eat the male and female ants, but I had thought the workers were exempt from their attacks, and, indeed, they must be so as a rule, for otherwise they would speedily become extinct. ”

“ It seems strange that this spider, building as she does a nest apparently but poorly furnished either for concealment or defence, should be able to enter into competition with N. cæmentaria, whose solid, closely-fitting door appears so perfectly contrived for both. It will probably be found, however, when we are better acquainted with their respective ways of life, that they are really more nearly on a footing than they seem to be at first sight. I detected the remains of ants and the elytra of a beetle in one of these branched single-door nests. ”

“ It is probable that those trap-door spiders which inhabit nests with short tubes, and which therefore can be transported nest and all, would be less disconcerted by imprisonment than is the case with other kinds living at the bottom of a long burrow which it is almost impossible to carry away entire. This is borne out by what has been related (Ants and Spiders, p. 122) of the habits of Cteniza ionica in captivity, which not only endured to have its nest set upside down in a flower-pot, but actually furnished the inverted base of the tube with a door appropriate to its new position. ”

“ It is surprising that a creature, carrying within itself such a fatal brood, should not only live, but be capable of undergoing such adventures and misadventures as this travelled spider endured with seeming indifference ”

“ We have yet to learn what are the special advantages which each type of nest affords; but it is plain [ 198 ] from the fact of the same type being adopted indifferently by both nearly- and most distantly-related spiders, that the form of the nest is governed far more by the conditions which it is contrived to meet, than by the affinity or resemblance of the spiders which construct it.
I have found N. Moggridgii at San Remo, Mentone, Cannes, Hyères, and Marseilles, but thus far, I only know of the true N. cæmentaria at Montpellier. ”

“ In my concluding remarks in Ants and Spiders I called attention to the importance which attaches to a knowledge of the food and manner of feeding of any creature whose life-history we may wish to study, and I would now once more press the subject on the attention of my readers. For the range and distribution of a species largely depends upon the nature of its food, and this will also be an indication of the rivals with which it has to compete in [ 237 ] the struggle for existence ”

“ It is most likely, however, that the spider knows what she is about and that a door to her dwelling would be the reverse of an advantage to her, for she is more powerful and swifter than the generality of European trap-door spiders, and, as she probably lives by leaping out upon and hunting her prey, she no doubt needs to have the entrance to her nest free of all encumbrance. ”

“ Hitherto but little importance has been attached by naturalists to the study of the nests of trap-door spiders, but a knowledge of their structure is often of the greatest assistance, and will, I venture to predict, be found to afford a clue leading to the discovery of many new species; for it not unfrequently happens that, while two spiders appear so much alike as to pass for representatives of the same species, their nests are totally dissimilar and proclaim them, as in fact they are, quite distinct from one another. ”

“ I have now detected the remains of insects, and of ants especially, in the nest of every species of trap-door spider which I have examined in situ; very frequently, however, one may open several nests in succession without finding any of these débris, and at other times they will only be detected beneath the existing bottom of the tube, layers of silk having been spun over successive layers of refuse. ”

“ The young spiders make their nests at an early age, and there can be no doubt that N. congener enlarges its dwelling from time to time as growth demands, just as the trap-door spiders at Mentone do. Indeed in one of these new Hyères nests I found, outside the main tube and some way above the existing lower door, a former and disused lower door much smaller than the one then in use, and which had evidently belonged to the nest at a previous stage of its development. ”

“ When living, the pattern on the abdomen is far more distinct and is traced on a paler ground than in N. Moggridgii, and the patterns on the back of the caput, as seen in specimens preserved in spirits, and the relative sizes of the lateral eyes, as well as other details enumerated by Mr. Pickard-Cambridge, afford characters by which they may be known apart; and it is probable that when the males, which are at present unknown, shall be discovered, they will be found to present other distinctive peculiarities. ”

“ If it were not for this body-guard of workers it is difficult to see how the males and females in such situations could ever escape. It is also plain that if the worker harvesting ants were as liable to be seized and devoured as their winged companions, the species would soon become extinct, for they expose themselves more than ants ordinarily do, and their long provision-laden trains would be almost at the mercy of any enemy which could attack them without fear of results.113 ”

“ There would doubtless be a just feeling of pride and satisfaction in the heart of a naturalist who could say that he had made himself thoroughly acquainted with all the species of a particular group of animals, had learned their most secret habits, and mastered their several relations to the objects, animate and inanimate, which surrounded them. ”

“ I first made the acquaintance of Lycosa narbonensis near the glass-works west of Cannes, where this spider may not rarely be found living in tubular burrows in sandy clearings among the pine woods along the shore (Pinus pinea, the stone pine) .
I have already (Ants and Spiders, p. 146) , alluded to an account given by M. Léon Dufour of his observations on the nest and habits of the true tarantula (Lycosa tarentula) , which he discovered in Spain.
The nests of L. narbonensis at Cannes resembled those described by M. Dufour, but the cylindrical, subterranean burrows were apparently shorter. ”

“ Another distinction which appears constant is the form of the thoracic fovea; in the Montpellier species this forms a slight but uniform curve; in the Mentone spider it is more sharply bent at the apex (or centre of the curve) , forming in most examples a bluntish-angular line.
In the eyes there appears to be but little reliable difference; if there be any at all constant, it seems to be that in the present (Mentone) species the fore-laterals are constantly smaller than the hind-laterals, and sometimes smaller than the fore-centrals. ”