My dear Sir

I am now on the point of leaving England for Mentone (we start on Wednesday next), & I am anxious before going to ask your permission to be allowed to send you a copy of a little book, which I have been engaged during the past summer in preparing, on the Habits & dwellings of the Harvesting Ants & Trap-door spiders of the Riviera.¹

You were so good as to express some interest in my observations, reported to you in a letter last year, on these seed-carrying ants, which are, contrary to the general belief of naturalists, common objects in the south—² If you will accept this little publication you will see that I have been able to collect several details as to the manner in which these creatures cut, carry & store their harvest, their manner of life & relations to other ants.

The true harvesting ants are, as far as I have yet seen, easily known by their habits; but there are other species of ant which, though clearly dependent in the main upon sweet secretions & animal matter for their living, do occasionally collect a few seeds & thus shew a trace of this instinct.

The great majority of species in the neighbourhood of Cannes & Mentone are not collectors of seed, &, indeed, there are but three species to which the name of harvester can properly apply—

These three species are however very common, & two of them may frequently be seen by the road side or crossing the paths in long lines, & are very familiar objects.—³

The trap-door spiders have been forced upon my attention by my attention by a friend, & I am now most deeply interested in their structure & habits—⁴

Up to the present time only one type of nest has been described in Europe, namely that in which the cylindrical silk-lined tube is closed by a solid door composed of layers of earth & silk & which fits into the aperture of the tube much as a cork does into the neck of a bottle (Fig. A).

To this type I am now able to add two others, & these posess two doors, one at the surface of the ground & one some inches below (Fig^s. B & C.).

In these nests the surface door is always thin & wafer-like & merely serves to conceal the aperture of the tube upon which it is laid, while the lower door is solid & capable of offering mechanical resistance.

I will not however trouble you with further details, as I hope to explain these fully in the book which should appear in the end of next month.—

I have drawn the plates & nearly completed the MS., but am anxious to make a few additional observations at Mentone before going to print.

I am indebted to M^r. Pickard Cambridge for the names & descriptions of the four species of Trap-door spider found on the Riviera, & Prof. Ausserer has also been so good as to give his opinion as to their proper naming.—⁵ I greatly regret however that I have hitherto been unable to discover the males of any one of these spiders & it would seem that they are either very scarce or exceptionally well concealed—⁶

This letter need not require an answer; at least if I do not receive one I shall take it for granted that I may send my book— | Believe me | Y^rs. very sincerely | J. Traherne Moggridge.