390 Insect Architecture. 



the least destroying the power of the spring. When the 

 door is shut, it resembles some of the lichens (Lecidea), or 

 the leathery fungi, such as Polyporus versicolor (MICHELI), or, 

 nearer still, the upper valve of a young oyster shell. The 

 door of the nest, the only part seen above ground, being of a 

 blackish-brown colour, it must be very difficult to discover. 

 (J.E.) 



Another mason-spider (Mygale ccementaria, LATB.), found 

 in the south of France, usually selects for her nest a place 

 bare of grass, sloping in such a manner as to carry off the 

 water, and of a firm soil, without rocks or small stones. 

 She digs a gallery a foot or two in depth, and of a diameter 

 (equal throughout) sufficient to admit of her easily passing. 

 She lines this with a tapestry of silk glued to the walls. 

 The door, which is circular, is constructed of many layers of 

 earth kneaded, and bound together with silk. Externally, 

 it is flat and rough, corresponding to the earth around the 

 entrance, for the purpose, no doubt, of concealment : on the 

 inside it is convex, and tapestried thickly with a web of fine 

 silk. The threads of this door-tapestry are prolonged, and 

 strongly attached to the upper side of the entrance, forming 

 an excellent hinge, which, when pushed open by the spider, 

 shuts again by its own weight, without the aid of spring 

 hinges. When the spider is at home, and her door forcibly 

 opened by an intruder, she pulls it strongly inwards, and 

 even when half-opened often snatches it out of the hand ; but 

 when she is foiled in this, she retreats to the bottom of her 

 den, as her last resource.* 



Rossi ascertained that the female of an allied species 

 (Mygale sauvagesii, LATE.), found in Corsica, lived in one of 

 these nests, with a numerous posterity. He destroyed one 

 of these doors to observe whether a new one would be made, 

 which it was ; but it was fixed immovably, without a hinge ; 

 the spider, no doubt, fortifying herself in this manner till she 

 thought she might reopen it without danger.^ 



[The accompanying illustration shows one of these nests, 



* Mem. Soc. d'Hist. Nat. de Paris, An. vii. 



f Ibid., p. 125, and Latreille, Hist. Nat. Geu&. viii. p. 163. 



