An opening through the stage floor. A grave trap is a lowered rectangular section used in Hamlet etc. A cauldron trap is a simple opening through which items can be passed into a cauldron on stage. A star trap is a set of triangular sprung flaps in the stage floor through which an actor can be propelled from a lift below stage. The Vampire Trap was invented for James Planche's 1820 adaption of Polidori's The Vampyr. It involved two spring leaves that parted under pressure and immediately reclosed. Placed in the floor or stage wall, it could give the impression a figure was passing through solid matter. The Corsican Trap, made for Dion Boucicault's 1852 adaption of Alexandre Dumas' The Corsican Brothers, involved an ascending track, on which a wheeled cart could be run, rising up out of the stage through a 'bristle' trap - a trapdoor covered with bristles painted to match the scenery. Once on the stage and in view, the track was covered by a sliding arrangement reminiscent of that of a roll- top desk; towhit, nothing was seen except the ghost rising up through the floor and gliding across the stage.