M. Thorell, in the introduction to his work _On European Spiders_,[100] gives a detailed account of a method by which specimens may be prepared for mounting in cabinets, by drying them within a glass tube held over a flame, but it would appear that, for purposes of study, specimens preserved in spirit of wine are far preferable. [Footnote 100: Thorell (T.), On European Spiders, in Nova Acta Regiæ Societ. Scientiar. Upsaliensis, ser. 3, vol. viii. fasc. I. et II. (Upsala, 1871).] It is very desirable to obtain characteristic portions of, or if possible entire nests, but where the tubes are long, this is extremely difficult to do satisfactorily. Some nests, preserved in the British Museum, have been coated with thin glue, and this appears to be of some use in binding the parts together. I find that by stuffing the tube full of cotton-wool, before attempting to remove the earth, the nest may sometimes be obtained in tolerably good condition. E. _The Nest of the Tarantula (Lycosa Tarentula)._ As it is of some interest to compare the burrow of the Tarantula with the nest of its near allies the trap-door spiders, I give the following _résumé_ of M. Dufour's observations:[101]-- [Footnote 101: Quoted by M. Lucas, in his Histoire Nat. des Animaux Crustacés et Arachnides, p. 357.] "_Lycosa Tarentula_ forms a cylindrical burrow in the earth, often more than a foot long, and about one inch in diameter. At about four or five inches below the surface the perpendicular tube is bent horizontally, and it is at this angle that the Tarantula watches for the approach of enemies or prey. "The external orifice of the burrow of the Tarantula is ordinarily surmounted by a separately constructed tube, and which authors have not hitherto mentioned; this tube, a true piece of architecture, rises to about an inch above the surface of the ground, and is sometimes as much as two inches in diameter, being thus larger than the burrow itself. This tube is principally composed of fragments of wood fastened together with clayey earth, and so artistically disposed one above the other that they form a scaffolding having the shape of an upright column, of which the interior is a hollow cylinder." M. Dufour observes, however, that the exterior tube was not found in all the nests. In every case the tube was lined with silk throughout its whole length. F. The following description is that given by Prof. Ausserer in his monograph of _Territelariæ_,[102] of a male trap-door spider which was found at Nice, and named by Herr L. Koch _Nemesia Manderstjernæ_. It is just possible, I think, that this male may in reality belong to _N. meridionalis_ [Costa-Cambr.], of which the female alone is at present known.[103] If this is the case, then the name _Manderstjernæ_ will have to be suppressed in favour of that of _meridionalis_. If not, we have yet to discover the female spider and nest of another species of _Nemesia_!