UNDER GENIAL SKIES 



one of the most interesting bits of natural his- 

 tory I have found on the coast. An obliging 

 sojourner near me from one of the Eastern States 

 had discovered a large plot of uncultivated ground 

 above the beach that abounded in the hidden bur- 

 rows of these curious animals. One afternoon he 

 volunteered to conduct me to the place. 



The ground was scantily covered with low bushy 

 and weedy growths. My guide warned me that 

 the quarry we sought was hard to find. It in- 

 deed, found it so. It not only required an "eye 

 as practiced as a blind man's touch," it required 

 an eye practiced in this particular kind of detec- 

 tive work. My new friend conducted me down 

 into the plot of ground and, stopping on the edge 

 of it, said, *'There is a nest within two feet of me." 

 I fell to scrutinizing the ground as closely as I 

 knew how, fairly bearing on with my eyes; I went 

 over the soil inch by inch with my eyes, but to 

 no purpose. There was no mark on the gray and 

 brown earth at my feet that suggested a trap-door, 

 or any other device. I stooped low, but without 

 avail. Then my guide stooped, and with a long 

 needle pried up a semi-circular or almost circular 

 bit of the gray soil nearly the size of a silver quar- 

 ter of a dollar, which hinged on the straight 

 side of it, and behold — the entrance to the spider's 

 castle ! I was not prepared for any thing so novel 

 and artistic — a long silken chamber, about three 



133 



