TRAP-DOOR SPIDERS. 209 



it with silk or furnisliing it with a door, I replaced 

 her in her own nest. 



Within a few days after this date I found her dead 

 at the bottom of her tube, and at first I was inclined 

 to fear that the treatment to which she had lately 

 been subjected might have caused her end. When, 

 however, I detected the brown spot on the side of the 

 abdomen, described above, and which so strongly re- 

 called the marks frequently observable in caterpillars 

 attacked by ichneumons, I came to the conclusion 

 that she had really died from the internal injuries 

 caused by the gnawing of these cruel parasites ; and 

 that the eggs, laid long before by one of these insects, 

 had been hatched within her body and developed 

 into larvae, which, living upon her tissues, had at 

 length destroyed some vital part. It is surprising 

 that a creature, carrying within itself such a fatal 

 brood, should not only live, but be capable of under- 

 going such adventures and misadventures as this 

 travelled spider endured with seeming indifference ; 

 but similar facts are familiar to all those who have 

 attended to the rearing of caterpillars, and the 

 frequent disappointment caused by the death of ap- 

 parently sound specimens which have been attacked 

 in this way is but too well known. 



It would appear that Cteniza Californica is pecu- 

 liarly amenable to captivity, and indeed to captivity 

 of the strictest kind. 



My specimen lived during all the time she was in 

 my possession in a cocoatina tin, a cylindrical box 

 4i in. deep and 2| in. in diameter, which alwaj^s 

 stood among the books and papers on my writing- 



