[70] The lower door here, as in the branched nest (see above, [p. 100]), is sometimes united to the silk of the tube below by two nearly triangular gussets of silk, when, instead of being free except at the hinge, as I have represented it ([Plate XII.]), it is surrounded on either side by silk and only free at the extremity away from the hinge. This does not, however, alter the function of this door in any way.
It may be that these lower doors are always attached from below in this way, but it is very difficult to be sure of this, as they readily break away from the surrounding silk, when they appear quite free, as in my drawing. It was not until I adopted the plan of stuffing the tube full of cotton wool before removing the surrounding earth that I detected this fragile attachment.
I have observed some variation as to the exact proportions of these doors, and it is quite possible that in many cases they are specially adapted to meet peculiarities in the curvature of the tube.
The nest and spider drawn at figs. A and A 3 of [Plate XII.] were first discovered by the Honourable Mrs. Richard Boyle at Mentone, on March 26th, 1872, and the following is the description of the species kindly prepared by Mr. Pickard-Cambridge:—
Nemesia Eleanora, sp. nov. [Plate XII.]
Female adult, length 11 to 12 lines.
This spider, which has (like N. meridionalis) probably been confused with its near ally N. cæmentaria, is yet easily distinguished from both by its deeper and richer colouring, as well as by other characters.
The Abdomen has a far more spotted appearance; in some examples a similar series of dark, broken, slightly angular bars is indistinctly visible on the hinder half of the upper side; in others (the more common type) the darker colouring preponderates, and some transverse, broken, slightly angular, or nearly curved bars or lines of pale spots constitute the pattern; the lateral margins of the thorax are not so distinctly yellow as in N. meridionalis, and there is a single longitudinal stripe on the caput, of a dull orange-yellow brown, commencing directly behind the eyes and tapering to the thoracic junction; the depression or pit at this point is more strongly marked than in either of the two foregoing species; the ocular area is also smaller, and its transverse diameter is less in proportion to its width; the bristles on the margin of the clypeus, as also those within the ocular area and in the central longitudinal line of the caput, are similarly disposed to those in N. meridionalis, but are more numerous; in some details, however, of form and structure—viz., the Labium and Sternum—the present species is more nearly allied to N. meridionalis than to N. cæmentaria. The Legs seemed to be rather longer and stronger than in either; the tarsi and metatarsi of the two first pairs, as well as the digital joints of the palpi, are rather densely clothed a little underneath on their outer sides with a kind of fringe or pad of close-set hairs; in other respects the armature of the legs appeared to be similar to that of the other two species, except that in the present one there are three short strong red-brown spines in a longitudinal row on the outer sides of the genual joints of the third pair; these spines were plainly visible in all the examples found, but did not exist in any one of those of the two former species. The armature of the falces, which are of a uniform yellow-brown colour, is similar to that of those species.
Adult females were found in tubular silk-lined unbranched holes, closed at the orifice with a flat scale-like hinged lid concealed by mosses and lichens, and having a horse-shoe shaped second valve or door less than half way down the tube, of which it serves to shut off the upper part. In this nest, as in that of N. meridionalis, the upper part of the tube often projects above the surface of the soil.