no ROMANCE OF THE INSECT WORLD CHAP. 



delicacies, which being caught are destroyed at 

 leisure in the safe retreat. Probably it seldom 

 wanders far from home. 



The greatest perfection of tubular nests, however, 

 culminates with the so-called trap-door spiders. For 

 beauty of workmanship, for ingenuity in arrangement, 

 for marvellous cleverness in overcoming difficulty and 

 avoiding danger, these arachnids * must be assigned a 

 front place among Nature's handicraftsmen. They 

 inhabit many warm countries, notably the West 

 Indies, the United States of America, India, and 

 Australia. The typical nest is a cylindrical tunnel 

 in the ground, beautifully lined with silken web and 

 protected by a valve or lid " the door " fitted 

 accurately into the frame of the orifice at the surface, 

 and like our doors possessed of a hinge, upon which 

 it turns with the greatest freedom, allowing it to be 

 opened and closed at pleasure. Some of the larger 

 kinds of these nests ; as in the West Indies, are a foot 

 deep and about an inch in diameter, and are dug out 

 by the strong jaws of the spiders often in a steep 

 bank of bare clay. The silken lining tube may be 

 removed from the burrow, and is then seen to be 

 double ; the outer covering being comparatively 

 strong, harsh, and thick, and deeply stained of the 

 colour of the earth, while the texture of the inner 

 layers is very different, being nearly white and soft, 

 and smooth, the smoothness, however, not precluding 

 certain irregularities of surface, it resembles rough 

 and unsized paper. The door is composed of the 

 same substance, and is continuous with the tube for 

 about a third of its circumference forming the hinge 



