UNDER GENIAL SKIES 



not crumble or disintegrate; the cohesion of parti- 

 cles is such that sun-dried brick are easily made 

 from it. 



This spider is found in New Mexico, Arizona, 

 California, and Jamaica. It belongs to the family 

 of Mygalidae. It resembles in appearance the taran- 

 tula of Europe, described by Fabre, and has many 

 of the same habits; but its habitation is a much 

 more ingenious and artistic piece of workmanship 

 than that of its European relative. The tarantula 

 has no door to her burrow, but instead she builds 

 about the entrance a kind of breastwork an inch 

 high and nearly two inches in diameter, and from 

 this fortress sallies out upon her prey. She sinks 

 a deeper shaft than does our spider, but excavates 

 it in the same way with similar tools, her fangs, 

 and lines it with silk from her own body. 



Our spider is an artist, evidently the master 

 builder and architect of her kind. Considering her 

 soft and pussy-like appearance — no visible drills for 

 such rough work — one wonders how she excavates 

 a burrow six inches or more deep in this hard 

 adobe soil of the Pacific coast, and how she removes 

 the dirt after she has loosened it. But she has 

 been surprised at her work; her tools are her two 

 fangs, the same weapons with which she seizes and 

 dispatches her prey, and the rake or the chelicerce. 

 To use these delicate instruments in such coarse 

 work, says Fabre, seems as * 'illogical as it would 



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