Article beginning on page 89.
Psyche 5:89, 1888.

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July-August 1888.1 PSYcli?E. 89
door ; the enemy following, and finding
the main tube empty, would leave.* In
my studies of the nests and food habits
of Myrmekia$hiIa foliaw I found
indications that the main tube was con-
structed to serve as a gallery for the
passage of ants, or other insects, and
that the branch was constructed as a
real trap, in which the spider awaited
the passing of an ant, when it would
open the door and catch the insect.
The arguments I then advanced, briefly
stated, are: rst, the nests then found
were all made in places where ants had
underground passages, znd, the main
tube connected with some of the ant's
galleries, 3rd, the trap-door at thesurface of the ground had the appearance of
being little used, and 4th, one nest had only one door leadinginto a short tube.
This tube opened into the floor of a
broad hall of the ant's nest leading into several galleries. Near this broad hall
was the opening to the surface of the
ground, made by the ants, and through
w'iii*:h thi spi-isr prob-ibly entered the hall to construct her "branch tube" in
the floor.
In May 1888, at Chapel Hill, N. C.
I found a nest of Myrmeki@hila fo-
liata, under conditions which seem to
give conclusive evidence that the main
tube is intended to entrap unwary in-
sects that they might be "gobbled in"
as they pass the door of the branch
where the spider remains. The nest
was made in a broad foot path, where
the clay soil was very hard. I discov-
ered it by seeing the open door. The
following day I visited the place with
trowel in hand to dig up the spider. I
found the door still open. The main
tube was about nine inches long, the
branch about- one inch long and was
situated six inches from the surface of
the ground. In this I found the spider.
The door to the branch was a cork
door, while that at the surface of the
ground was a wafer door. It appears
in cases where the nest is not made in
an ant's nest, that the outer door is set ope:, thus offering an attractive place
for insects that are crawling on the sur- face of the ground in search of food.
They enter the main tube, and as they
pass the branch, the door is suddenly
thrown open, and to their surprise they
are taken captive and made a meal of
by the cunning spider.
MATING OF SAMIA CYNTHIA IN CAPTIVITY.
BY CAROLINE G. SOULE, BROOKLINE, MASS.
Last winter I received from Nan-
side of my pupa-box at the same time.
tucket cocoons of Samia cynthia and
I removed them to a cage to see if they
on the 8th of May, 1888, at I 1-30 A. M., would mate in captivity.
a f and $ emerged and crawled up the
My cage consists of a shallow flower-
'
pot, seven inches in diameter and nearly * Harvesting Ants and Trap-Door spiders. f Entomological Americana, Oct. & Nov.1886. full of sand; a circle of heavy cop-
Pswhe 5 WMI0 (pre.1903). hfp //psyche aitclub org/5/5.0089 html



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PSYCHE.
[July-August 1888.
per wire six inches in diameter, to which are attached four movable uprights of
the same wire ; and a piece of netting.
When set the uprights are stuclc into
the sand at equal distances, supporting
the copper ring at about six inches from the top of the flower pot. The netting
is spread over this frame and held to the flower-pot by a rubber band, making an
airy cage, the top of which is flat, en- abling the moths to hang from it. This
cage 1 put on a table in a room with one window partly open.
The two moths were very quiet all
the next day, 9th May, but on the 10th
the male crawled about the netting,
without seeming to notice the female,
who was still quiet, only opening and
shutting her wings now and then. I set
the cage so that the female was nearest
the open window but more than ten feet
away from it. Soon after nine in the
evening the male began to seem excited
and to vibrate his wings so fast that they made a dull buzzing sound, loud enough
to attract my attention at the far end of the room. I kept a light until eleven
o'clock and all the time the male either kept up the buzzing vibration, or
crawled over the netting near the fe-
male, opening and shutting his wings as
if to display them. As soon as the light INSECT LIFE.
Under this title the
United States Entomologist begins the
publication of a periodical bulletin to
be issued on an average once a month.
It will contain brief notes and papers
which are not adapted for the annual
reports or the special bulletins of the
Division. The first numero is dated
was out I heard a great fluttering, which stopped before half-past eleven.
The next morning the inotl~s were in
coda hanging from the top of the cage,
and so remained until 6.30 P. M., when
they separated, and for about an hour
were very quiet.
I then put the female into a box cov-
ered with netting and before 10 P. M.
she had laid 159 eggs.
I ~th May she laid 80 eggs.
12th t b 40 ''
13th '' 'L 21 "
14th tt L k 13 tt
15th t6 t6 L' 10
16th kt fi U 6 kt
17th 'L 6 b " 6 "
18th k6 LL 6t 6 a
making a total of 341 eggs.
The last eggs were pure white, with-
out the dark spots characteristic of the others. All the eggs were laid before
midnight and most of them before 10
P. M. On 19th of May the female died,
the male I had let fly on the third day. Both emitted a rank odor, not unlike
that of Az7arztkus-flowers and I could
not perceive that the odor of the female was stronger or different from that of
the male tho~~gh I tested them in sepa-
ate rooms.
July 1888 and contains among other
interesting matter a complete life-his-
tory of the Willow-shoot Saw-fly (PhyI-
loecus integer). Dr. Williston describes and figures Lestofhornus icevae a new
genus and species of Oscinidae para-
sitic on the fluted scale (lcerya pw-
chasi ) .




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