134 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



it is impossible to inspect them without admiration. When re- 

 moved from the earth which surrounded it, the silken tube is 

 seen to be double, the outer portion being thick, deeply stained 

 of a ruddy brown, and separated into a great number of flakes, 

 lying loosely upon each other. This outer covering is so thick, 

 harsh, and crumpled, that it looks more like the rough bark of a 

 tree than a spider's web, and its true nature would hardly be rec- 

 ognized even by the touch. The exterior of a common wasp's 

 nest bears some resemblance to this part of the tube. Beneath 

 this covering is an inner layer of a very different character. This 

 is uniformly smooth to the eye, and of a silken softness to the 

 touch. It is but slightly adherent in places to the outer tube, 

 and can be separated without any difficulty and without injuring 

 the one or the other. 



The texture of the interior surface is quite unlike that of the 

 inner or outer tube, being nearly white, and of a smoothness and 

 consistency much resembling the rough and unsized paper on 

 which Continental books are usually printed. It is curiously stiff 

 also, and is so formed that no one who saw it for the first time 

 would be likely to guess at its real character. The microscope, 

 however, reveals its true character at once. If the interior of the 

 tube be submitted to a moderately low power, say from thirty to 

 forty diameters, a curious sight is presented to the observer. The 

 surface looks like very rough felt,- covered with little promi- 

 nences, and composed of threads twisted together without the 

 least apparent order. The threads are very coarse, in comparison 

 to ordinary spider-web, and seem to be stiff, as if covered with 

 size or gum. 



The entrance of the tube is guarded by the "trap-door," from 

 which the spider takes its name. This is a flap of the same sub- 

 stance as the tube, circular in shape, so as to fit the orifice with 

 perfect accuracy, and attached to the tube by a tolerably wide 

 hinge, so that when it closes it does not fall to either side, but 

 comes true and fair upon the opening which it defends. The in- 

 ner surface of the trap-door is white and felt-like, and exactly re- 

 sembles the interior of the tube, but its outer surface is covered 

 with earth, taken from the soil in which the hole is dug. As the 

 trap-door is flush with the surface of the ground, it is evident 

 that, when it is closed, all traces of the burrow and its inhabitant 

 are lost. 



The spider is urged by a curious instinct to make its tunnel in 



