The Structure and Habits of Spiders. 49 



night, enough dirt and silk were added to make 

 the door of the usual thickness ; but the spider 

 never finished it so that it would open properly 

 on its hinge. Another time Moggridge saw at 

 the mouth of a very small hole a spider at work 

 making a door. She spun a few threads across 

 the hole, then gathered up with her front-legs 

 and palpi an armful of dirt, and laid it on top of 

 them. She then got under the pile, into the 

 tube ; but the motions of the dirt showed that 

 she was still at work on it, and next morning: 

 the under side had been thickly covered with 

 web, and the whole separated from the mouth 

 of the tube, except at one side, where the usual 

 hinge was left. The new door was at first soft, 

 but in two or three days hardened, and appeared 

 exactly like an old door. 



These spiders are accustomed to put on the 

 door moss like that which grows around it, 

 and so conceal the door from sight ; but when 

 Mr. Moggridge took away the moss, and dug up 

 the ground around a hole, and then destroyed 

 the cover, the spider made a new one, and 

 brought moss from a distance to put on it, 

 thereby making it the most conspicuous thing 

 in the neighborhood. 



