28 



AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



Fig. 10. A tarantula (Mygale) digging out her burrow. 



bunches of bananas, to which they had no doubt resorted as a convenient 

 field for capturing prey, and were themselves captured and shipped, hidden 

 away among the clusters of fruit. 



In the case of the spider " Leidy," described in Vol. II., page 428, the 

 only effort made at nest building was a rude burrow whicli was excavated 

 against one side of the box, and which in the course of time was extended 



downward to the bottom of 

 the box, and laterally along 

 the bottom either way, thus 

 forming an irregular cavity. 

 Into this it frequently de- 

 scended, dividing its time 

 between the cave and the 

 outside surface. This bur- 

 row was entirely destitute of 

 a silken lining, although oc- 

 casionally the opening at the 

 surface would be overspun 

 with a thin sheet of spin- 

 ningwork. I have seen the same habit in other individuals of the species 

 kept in confinement. The only attempt at a nest ever observed by me 

 has been this burrow, with an occasional sheeted closure, and more rarely 

 a slight silken lining of the interior of the burrow. I believe, therefore, 

 that the popular theory that the tarantula makes a trapdoor like the Cal- 

 ifornia Cteniza is without foundation in fact, and that its ordinary hab- 

 itat is a plain burrow , / 

 like that made by most 

 Lycosids. 



The mode of mak- 

 ing the burrow was well 

 observed by me at vari- 

 ous times. 1 In the act 

 of digging the spider 

 first used the two leg 

 like palps, the digital 

 brushes of which are 

 well adapted for that 

 service. Then the two front feet were brought into jtlay to gatlier up 

 the loose pellets of soil and scrape them into a ball. The first and second 

 pairs of legs then closed up around and under the balled mass, compress- 

 ing it inside the mandibles. (Fig. 10.) When the pellets had thus been 

 gathered and squeezed into a mass, they were held within the extended 



Tarantula (Mygale) carrying dirt from her burrow. 



1 Acad. Nat. Sci., Philadelphia, 1887, page 381. 



