496 THE TRAP-DOOR SPIDER. 



when removed from the creature and set in gold, they are used as tooth-picks, being thought 

 to possess some occult virtue, which drives away the tooth-ache. 



A much smaller example of this family is SULZER'S ATYPUS (Atypus sulzeri). This creat- 

 ure is of a peculiar structure. The eyes are mounted on a kind of pedestal or watch-tower, so 

 as to allow the creature to see objects in its front, which would otherwise be hidden by the 

 enormous and elevated mandibles. 



This Spider is rare, but has been found in several places. It frequents damp situations, 

 and makes a rather curiously shaped burrow, nearly horizontal at its commencement, but 

 afterwards sloping downwards. The tunnel is lined with a kind of web of white silk, very 

 strongly compacted, which serves to prevent the earth from falling into the burrow. Part of 

 the tube projects outside the entrance, and acts as a protection. The female places her eggs 

 in a little cocoon also composed of white silk, and keeps them at the bottom of the burrow 

 until the young are hatched. 



The length of this creature is nearly half an inch, and its color is reddish-brown, becoming 

 paler and more ruddy on the limbs. The male is smaller and darker than his mate. 



A CURIOUS spider is the TRAP-DOOR SPIDER of Jamaica, erroneously called the Tarantula. 



Like the preceding species, this Spider digs a burrow in the earth, and lines it with a 

 silken web ; but, instead of merely protecting the entrance by a portion of the silken tube, it 

 proves itself a more complete architect by making a trap-door with a hinge that permits it to 

 be opened and closed with admirable accuracy. The door is beautifully circular, and is made 

 of alternate layers of earth and web, and is hinged to the lining of the tube by a band of the 

 same silken secretion. It exactly fits the entrance of the burrow, and, when closed, so pre- 

 cisely corresponds with the surrounding earth, that it can hardly be distinguished, even when 

 its position "is pointed out. It is a strange sight to see the earth open, a little lid raised, some 

 hairy legs protrude, and gradually the whole form of the spider show itself. 



The strength of the membrane is very considerable. One of the nests in my own collec- 

 tion has endured a large amount of rough handling, and has yet suffered but little damage. 

 It will permit a man's finger to be slipped into its interior, and lias a very soft and silken feel 

 to the touch. The trap-door has, however, been somewhat injured, as most of the dry earth 

 has been shaken off, and only the layers of web left in their places. I have also several of the 

 Spiders themselves preserved in spirits, and though they have lost their colors, as is the wont 

 of most preserved Arachnida, their falces are very perfect, and the peculiar barbed mandibles 

 are clearly perceptible. 



The mode in which these Spiders procure food seems to be by hunting at night, and, in 

 some cases, by catching the insects that are entangled in the threads that the creature spins 

 by the side of its house. There are several species of Trap-door Spiders, and all seem to pos- 

 sess similar habits. In the daytime they are very chary of opening the door of their domicile, 

 and if the trap be raised from the outside, they run to the spot, hitch the claws of their fore 

 feet in the silken webbing of the door, and those of the hind feet in the lining of the burrow, 

 and so resist with all their might. The strength of the Spider is wonderfully great, in pro- 

 portion to its size, and few persons would anticipate the force of its resistance. 



Small Spiders which construct trap-door domiciles are not uncommon in North America. 

 But the discovery of Dr. Holmes, of Charleston, S. C., of a gigantic species on his plantation 

 caused some surprise. 



This specimen, with the young just hatched, is in the American Museum, Central Park. 

 The body of the Spider is larger than an ordinary mouse. The legs are short and stout, and, 

 with the body, are covered with coarse hairs. The nest, as it is now seen, is a cylinder of 

 about one and three-quarters of an inch in diameter, and seven inches long. It is like an 

 adobe tube built in the earth. Unlike other Spiders, this does not weave a web, but depends 

 upon his subterranean castle, which it defends with astonishing power. The ground is not 

 only excavated for his purpose, but it is opened as a stone-mason works. Instead of plasters 

 on the sides of the excavation, he digs ;i large hole, and then commences at the bottom to 

 build a wall of mud, which, on completion, forms a tube. This is closely woven with delicate 



