VAKIOUS USES OF THEIR THREAD. 



383 



silken tapestry, affords a warm and ample lodging ; the entrance to this 

 excavation is carefully guarded by a lid or door, which moves upon a 

 hinge, and accurately closes the mouth of the pit. In order to form the 

 door in question, the Mygale first spins a web which exactly covers the 



Fig. 194 a . 



mouth of the hole, but which 

 is attached to the margin of 

 the aperture by one point 

 only of its circumference, this 

 point, of course, forming the 

 hinge. The Spider then pro- 

 ceeds to lay upon the web a 

 thin layer of the soil collected 

 in the neighbourhood of her 

 dwelling, which she fastens 

 with another layer of silk ; 

 layer after layer is thus laid 

 on, until at length the door 

 acquires sufficient strength 

 and thickness : when per- 

 fected, the concealment af- 

 forded is complete ; for as the 

 outer layer of the lid is formed 

 of earth precisely similar to 

 that which surrounds the 

 hole, the strictest search will 

 scarcely reveal to the most 

 practised eye the retreat so 

 singularly defended. 



(980.) Another Spider (Clo- 

 tho Durandii) constructs a 

 dwelling equally artificial and 

 ingenious a kind of tent, in 

 which it lives and rears its 

 young. This tent is com- 

 posed of several superposed sheets of the finest taffeta, and its contour 

 presents seven or eight prominent angles, which are fixed to the sur- 

 face of the ground by silken cords. The young Clotho at first lays 

 down only two sheets thus secured, between which she hides herself ; 

 but, as she grows older, she continually lays down additional coverings, 

 until the period when she begins to lay her eggs, at which time she 

 constructs an apartment, soft, downy, and warm, specially devoted to 

 their reception. The exterior sheet of the tent is purposely dirtied 

 for the purpose of concealment ; but, within, everything is beautifully 

 clean and white. The most admirable part of the contrivance, how- 

 ever, is the perfect safety afforded to the young when the parent leaves 



Anatomy of Mygale : a, centralized ganglia of the 

 nervous system; b, termination of the ganglionic 

 cord ; c, respiratory stigmata ; d, anterior pulmoni- 

 branchial organ of the left side, displayed ; e, poste- 

 rior pulmonibranchial organ, partially covered by a 

 large abdominal muscle (i); /.ovary; g, section of 

 integument ; A, spinnerets and anal aperture. 



