134 TRAP- DOOR SPIDERS. 



these trap-door spiders, and the difficulties and dangers 

 to which they are exposed, if we wisli to appreciate 

 fully the true meaning and intention of the structure 

 of their nests, and to find the clue to the difficult 

 question why one type should be more frequently 

 adopted than another. Above all, we must discover 

 what are their enemies, and how and when they are 

 most exposed to them. M. de Walckenaer gives an 

 entertaining account* of the enemies to which spiders 

 generally are exposed, and of this the following list is 

 an abstract, 



Manj^ kinds of monkeys, squirrels, and several sorts 

 of birds, as well as lizards, tortoises, frogs, and toads 

 prey upon spiders. A species of black sheep, found in 

 the steppes of Asiatic Jlussia, unearths the tarantulas 

 (Lycosa), and eats them. (" Une espece de brebis noire, 

 dans les steppes de la Eussie asiatique, deterre les 

 tarentules et les mange"). In the East India Archi- 

 pelago there is an entire genus of birds of the passe- 

 rine order, which have been named " Arachnopteres " 

 because the different sj^ecies of which it is composed 

 live exclusively on spiders. Besides these, the centi- 

 pede {Scolojjendrd), and the following Hymenopterous 

 insects, Pliilanthes, Sjjhex, Fowjnlus, FimjAa Ovivora, 

 and F. Arachnitor [which last lay their eggs in the 

 eggs of spiders], carry on perpetual hostihties against 

 them. 



I have seen it stated that ants are among the worst 

 enemies of spiders, driving their galleries through the 

 silk tubes of the latter and devouring their eggs. Of 

 this I have never seen any trace, and, on the contrary. 



Histoire dcs Insectes Aptferes (Suites a Buffon), vol. i. p. 172-7. 



