UNDER THE MAPLES 



house for a week, and in neither case did the occu- 

 pant ever leave its nest. 



Apparently the young spiders begin to dig nests 

 of their own when they are about half -grown. As 

 to where they stay, or how they live up to that 

 time, I have no clue. The young we found in 

 several nests were very small, not more than an 

 eighth of an inch long. Of the size and appear- 

 ance of the male spider, and where he keeps him- 

 self, I could get no clue. 



One morning I went with my guide down to 

 the spider territory, and saw him try to entice or 

 force a spider out of her den. The morning pre- 

 vious he had beguiled several of them to come up 

 to the opening by thrusting a straw down the bur- 

 row and teasing them with it till in self-defense 

 they seized it with their fangs and hung on to it 

 till he drew them to the surface. But this morning 

 the trick would not work. Not one spider would 

 keep her hold. But with a piece of wire bent at 

 the end in the shape of a hook, he finally lifted one 

 out upon the ground. How bright and clean and 

 untouched she looked! Her limbs and a part of 

 the thorax were as black as jet and shone as if they 

 had just been polished. No lady in her parlor 

 could have been freer from any touch of soil or 

 earth-stain than was she. On the ground, in 

 the strong sunlight, she seemed to be lost. We 

 turned her around and tried to induce her to enter 



