SPIDERS AND THEIR WAYS. 803 



produce but little silk, only enough to give them a foothold on a 

 vertical plane, to bar the opening of their holes, and to bind their 

 prey. Their simple claws are not adapted to the purposes of tools. 

 They are hunters, and live in the hollows of trees, which they do 

 not leave, except to go on the chase. Their eyes are not distrib- 

 uted over the body, like those of other spiders, but are grouped 

 upon an eminence in the middle of the cephalic region, two in 

 front, two on each side, and two looking hindward, in such posi- 

 tions as to command simultaneous views in every direction. The 

 larger, dark-colored species go abroad usually in the dusk and at 

 night, and capture with equal boldness large insects, small lizards, 

 and humming-birds (Fig. 12). 



The abb^ Sauvage, of Madrid, in 1768, astonished the French 

 Academy of Sciences with the declaration that he had found a 

 spider " that did not stretch any kind of web, but hollowed a bur- 

 row in the ground like a rabbit, and added a movable door to it." 

 The species had been observed on the road-sides, around Montpel- 

 lier, and on the banks of the little river Lez. A little while pre- 

 viously, a traveler, Patrick Browne, had found a nest of similar con- 

 struction to this, but less perfect, in Jamaica. Since the last cent- 

 ury these animals have been called in France, mason-spiders ; in 

 England, trap-door spiders. Judged by the organism as a whole, 

 they appear to be related to the mygales, but they present several 

 differences in detail. Like the larger mygales, the trap-door spi- 

 ders have stout bodies, large legs, eyes grouped on an eminence, and 

 a dorsal buckler ; but in the lower parts of their forceps-antennae 

 they have a row of points, a kind of rake, with spines on their 

 paws, and teeth in their claws, which give a resemblance to micro- 

 scopic combs. These are tools, working instruments, of which 

 the mygales, compelled to find a home where they can, are desti- 

 tute ; naturalists call these spiders ctenizas. 



The domiciles or burrows of the trap-door spiders are so well 

 disguised that only an experienced observer can distinguish their 

 presence on the surface of the ground. But, while without every- 

 thing is as far as possible from suggesting a comfortable habita- 

 tion, within the hole reign neatness, elegance, and graceful adjust- 

 ments. These structures abound in the south of France and in 

 nearly all of southern Europe. In compact earth, free from stones 

 and gravel, they are built quite close to one another. Each one of 

 them consists of a vertical hole or pit (Fig. 13), of a size propor- 

 tioned to that of the architect, the cylindrical tube flaring toward 

 the mouth. The walls are tapestried with the softest of satin, pre- 

 pared from the silk which the animal spins. The entrance is most 

 skillfully closed by a solid door, which can not easily be broken 

 or pushed in. It is made of the material thrown out during the 

 digging of the pit, the earthy particles being held together by the 



