146 TRAP-DOOR SPIDERS. 



E. 



The Nest of the Tarantula {Lycosa Tarentuld). 



As it is of some interest to compare the burrow of the 

 Tarantula with the nest of its near allies the trap-door spiders, 

 I give the following resurae oi M. Dufour's observations :* — 



" Lycosa Taoxntula forms a cylindrical burrow in the earth, 

 often more than a foot long, and about one inch in diameter. 

 At about four or five inches below the surface the perpen- 

 dicular tube is bent horizontally, and it is at this angle that 

 the Tarantula watches for the approach of enemies or prey. 



"The external orifice of the burrow of the Tarantula is 

 ordinarily surmounted by a separately constructed tube, and 

 which authors have not hitherto mentioned ; this tube, a true 

 piece of architecture, rises to about an inch above the surface 

 of the ground, and is sometimes as much as two inches in dia- 

 meter, being thus larger than the burrow itself. This tube 

 is principally composed of fragments of wood fastened 

 together with clayey earth, and so artistically disposed one 

 above the other that they form a scaffolding having the shape 

 of an upright column, of which the interior is a hollow 

 cylinder." 



M. Dufour observes, however, that the exterior tube was 

 not found in all the nests. In every case the tube was lined 

 with silk throughout its whole length. 



F. 



The following description is that given by Prof. Ausserer 

 in his monograph of Territelarice,f of a male trap-door spider 

 which was found at Nice, and named by Herr L. Koch 



* Quoted by M. Lucas, ia his Histoire Nat. des Animaux Crustacea et 

 Arachnides, p. 357. 



+ Beitrage zur Kenntniss der Arachniden-Familie der Territelariae, in 

 Verhand. der k. k. zool.-bot. Gesellschaft in Wieu (1871), vol. xxi. p. 170. 



