70 STRANGE DWELLINGS. 



time would be likely to guess at its real character. The micro- 

 scope, however, reveals its true character at once. If the in- 

 terior 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 prominences, and composed of threads twisted to- 

 gether 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 

 substance 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 inner surface of the trap-door is white and felt-like, and 

 exactly resembles 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 some sloping spot, and to keep the hinge uppermost, so that 

 when the inhabitant leaves its home, or retreats to the extremity 

 of its burrow, the door closes of its own accord, and effectually 

 conceals it. New-comers into the country which the Trap-door 

 Spider inhabits are often surprised by seeing the ground open, 

 a little lid lifted up, and a rather formidable spider peer about, 

 as if to reconnoitre the position before leaving its fortress. At 

 the least movement on the part of the spectator, back pops the 

 spider, like the cuckoo on a clock, clapping its little door after 

 it quite as smartly as the wooden bird, and in most cases 

 succeeds in evading the search of the astonished observer, the 

 soil being apparently unbroken, without a trace of the curious 

 little door that had been so quickly shut. 



The spider itself is an odd-looking creature, with rather 

 short, but very powerful legs, and a most formidable pair of 



