The nest of _N. Eleanora_ often has the upper part of the tube prolonged above the surface of the ground and carried up through mosses, grasses, and the like. An example of this is seen in figs. B and B 1, Plate XII., in which the upper part of the tube is represented with the surface door open in the one case and shut in the other. The concealment here was so complete that I should never have discovered the nest but for the merest accident. I happened to want some moss to lay with flowers in my botanical tin, and in one handful which I plucked up this trap-door lay concealed. It should be observed that the upper part of the tube and its surface door were covered with growing moss, and this moss must have lived exclusively upon the moisture which the very damp and shady situation afforded, as there was no earth mixed with the silk. When digging out the nests of _N. Eleanora_, I have frequently seen the lower doors pushed forwards so as to close the tube; and it is my belief that the spider, after having thus barred the passage, puts her back against the door and resists in this way. I must own, however, that, though I believe I have seen the spider in this attitude when I have severed the tube from below, I am not quite certain about it. I have twice in the months of April and May, and frequently in October and November, found young of this species in the nests with their mother. Usually they were all very small and not larger than that represented at fig. B 2, Plate IX., p. 98, but occasionally in October I have found two or three young spiders thrice the size of their companions still in the nest. On one occasion (in April) I found twenty-four small spiders clustered beneath and beside their mother.[71] I secured the whole family by quickly cutting out the mass of earth containing the lower door on the under side of which they remained crouched, and brought them home alive. I had up to this time been in the habit of killing the spiders by placing them in a stopper bottle full of strong spirit of wine, but on treating these spiders in this way I saw reason to regret having done so. I knew that these large spiders, when thrown into spirit of wine, would continue to struggle for an hour or more, spasmodically spreading out their legs as if swimming; but I had supposed that this was only muscular motion, and was not in the least aware that the unfortunate creatures were probably conscious all the while. In this instance I first placed the mother spider in the bottle, and then, after the lapse of about ten minutes, when I supposed that the spider, though still struggling, was dead to sense, I dropped in the young spiders. No sooner, however, had I done this than the mother, perceiving them, gathered all her young to her, and, after placing them beneath her, with her legs drawn up round them, as a hen screens her chickens with her wings, never stirred again, and retained this attitude until