356 ARACHNIDA—ARANEAE CHAP. 
clears away the net, adding the material of it, M. Erber believes, 
to the trap-door. 
No true trap-door Spider has as yet been found in this 
country, but the allied Atypidae are represented by at least one 
species, Atypus affinis, which has been discovered in colonies in 
some localities in the south of England, notably near Ventnor in 
the Isle of Wight, and on Bloxworth Heath in Dorsetshire. This 
spider, like its continental cousins, excavates a hole in the earth, 
generally near the edge of a heathery bank, and lines it with a 
tube of silk of such firm texture that it may be removed intact 
from the earth in which it is embedded. The silken tube 
projects some two inches above the ground, either erect among 
the roots of the heather, or lying loosely upon the surface. 
Its extremity 1s always found to be closed, whether from its 
own elasticity or by the deliberate act of the proprietor is 
uncertain, and it seems probable that the animal spends almost 
the whole of its existence in the tube. Simon believes that it 
feeds almost entirely upon earth-worms which burrow into its 
vicinity, and which it, therefore, need not leave its nest to catch ; 
but the remains of beetles and earwigs have been found in the 
tubes at Ventnor. 
This description of nest seems 
common to all species of the genus 
Atypus. The American “ Purse-web 
Spider,” 4. abboti, burrows at the foot 
of a tree, against the trunk of which it 
rears the projecting portion of its silken 
tube. At the bottom of the nest the 
cavity 1s enlarged, and blind processes 
project in different directions. 
Another burrowing spider, Cyrtau- 
chenius elongatus, surmounts its silk- 
lined burrow by a funnel-shaped struc- 
ture of pure white silk, about three 
Fic. 194.—Funnel of Cyrtaw- inches in height and two or three 
chenius  elongatus. (After . P PSE : 
M ‘Cook. ) inches in width. There is no attempt 
at concealment, and the white funnels 
are conspicuous among the thin grass, presenting the appear- 
ance of fungi. 
The burrowing habit is also common to the Wolf-spiders or 
