90 SPIDERS [CH. 



dark-coloured spider about half an inch in length, 

 and with very thick, powerful mandibles, which, as we 

 have seen, work vertically. 



Its nest is a loosely- woven tubular structure, which 

 partly lines a more or less vertical hole in the ground 

 and partly lies exposed on the surface, but which does 

 not present any obvious opening for entrance and 

 exit. 



The situation chosen is generally a sloping sandy 

 bank covered with vegetation. The burrow is about 

 eight inches in depth and about three quarters of an 

 inch in diameter. Near the bottom it narrows and 

 then expands into a somewhat wider chamber where 

 the spider lives and constructs its egg-cocoon. The 

 portion of the tube above the ground is sometimes 

 longer but more often shorter than the buried portion, 

 and it tapers to a closed end. 



Mr Joshua Brown, who first found this spider near 

 Hastings in 1856, took home several of the tubes with 

 the spiders inside. He could find no opening, and 

 though the spiders moved up and down the tubes 

 they did not emerge. On tearing a tube open he 

 found no remains of insects inside, but in one case he 

 came across a worm, partly within, and partly outside 

 the lower part of the tube, and apparently partially 

 devoured by the spider. 



The same species is not rare in France and M. 

 Simon's observations on it closely agreed with those 



