NATURE'S CRAFTSMEN 



When the author first learned that this animal (Cteniza 

 califorjiica) took its prey by night and kept its nest by 

 day, he ventured to predict that its elaborate defence 

 must be chiefly if not wholly against a diurnal enemy, 



1 AND 3. CALIFORNIA TRAP-DOOR SPIDER's NEST {cTENlZA CALI- 



FORNICa).- — 2. TURRET TRAP-DOOR NEST (doLICHOSCAPTUS 



LATASTEl). AFTER M. EUGENE SIMON 



probably some species of wasp/ This inference has been 

 verified; and observers upon the field have found that 

 the tarantula-killer captures and provisions her egg-nest 

 with the trap-door spider also. Its smooth, soft body 

 and inferior size make it more vulnerable than the 

 tarantula, and hence perhaps its more elaborate defence. 

 It is well known that ground spiders on the approach 

 of winter, and preparatory to moulting, when their help- 

 less condition peculiarly invites attack, and while co- 



' American Spiders and their Spimiing-work, vol. ii., p. 414. 

 224 



