356 



ARACHNIDA ARANEAE 



CHAP. 



clears away the net, adding the material of it, M. Erber believes, 

 to the trap-door. 



No true trap- door Spider has as jet been found in this 

 country, but the allied Atypidae are represented by at least one 

 species, Atypus affinis, which has been discovered in colonies in 

 some localities in the south of England, notably near Ventnor in 

 the Isle of Wight, and on Bloxworth Heath in Dorsetshire. This 

 spider, like its continental cousins, excavates a hole in the earth, 

 generally near the edge of a heathery bank, and lines it with a 

 tube of silk of such firm texture that it may be removed intact 

 from the earth in which it is embedded. The silken tube 

 projects some two inches above the ground, either erect among 

 the roots of the heather, or lying loosely upon the surface. 

 Its extremity is always found to be closed, whether from its 

 own elasticity or by the deliberate act of the proprietor is 

 uncertain, and it seems probable that the animal spends almost 

 the whole of its existence in the tube. Simon believes that it 

 feeds almost entirely upon earth-worms which burrow into its 

 vicinity, and which it, therefore, need not leave its nest to catch ; 

 but the remains of beetles and earwigs have been found in the 



tubes at Ventnor. 



This description of nest seems 

 common to all species of the genus 

 Atypus. The American " Purse -web 

 Spider," A. abboti, burrows at the foot 

 of a tree, against the trunk of which it 

 rears the projecting portion of its silken 

 tube. At the bottom of the nest the 

 cavity is enlarged, and blind processes 

 project in different directions. 



Another burrowing spider, Cyrtau- 

 chenius elongatus, surmounts its silk- 

 lined burrow by a funnel-shaped struc- 

 ture of pure white silk, about three 

 inches in height and two or three 

 inches in width. There is no attempt 

 at concealment, and the white funnels 

 are conspicuous among the thin grass, presenting the appear- 

 ance of fungi. 



The burrowing habit is also common to the Wolf-spiders or 



FIG. 194. Funnel of Cyrtau- 

 chenius elongatus. (After 

 M'Cook.) 



