1887.] TREE TRAPDOOR SPIDER. 



41 



inches in depth. The house is not a burrow, though the spider 

 often takes advantage of holes and deep crevices ; but usually it 

 is constructed on the surface of the bark, especially if there are 

 lumps or prominences near the chosen spot. The spider com- 

 mences to build by weaving together pieces of bark and other 

 substances found in the immediate neighbourhood of the proposed 

 house. This part of the work is so skilfully carried out that, when 

 complete, it is almost impossible to detect any difference between 

 the house and the surrounding bark. I have often placed a piece 

 of bark in the hand of a friend and asked that the house might be 

 pointed out to me, and this often proves a very difficult task. I 

 know of nothing in Nature to surpass this wonderful structure, so far 

 as it is an imitation. I have had several of these spiders under 

 observation for many months, both in their natural haunts and in 

 captivity. Being anxious to know how the doors of their homes 

 are constructed, their doors being the most wonderful part of the 

 structure, I procured a piece of old stump from a tree and drilled 

 several holes into it through the different kinds of surfaces presented 

 on the hark. Into each of these holes I introduced a spider ; they 

 remainded quite quiet and almost motionless during the day at the 

 end of the hole, but on visiting the stump the next morning, I could 

 not find the holes until I had made a careful search. I then fouud 

 that a beautiful door had been constructed over each opening, and 

 that each door had been made to correspond with the immediately sur- 

 rounding surface. One hole had been drilled through a growth of 

 lichen ; the door in this instance was made to correspond so perfectly 

 that the lichen looked undisturbed, and only after careful inspection 

 could the outline of the door be detected. In another instance 

 some little pieces of wood, left by the drill on the border of the hole, 

 were woven into the door. At iiist the covering to the opening is 

 very thin, like paper, its thickness being increased by numerous layers 

 of silk being added to the inside surface of the door. In this way the 

 sides of the house are strengthened, the whole being very strong 

 when completed. In a few trees where circumstances are favourable 

 a number of these wonderful houses are to be found, but only by an 

 experienced eye. In exploring an old tree some months ago, 1 found, 

 high up in the tree, the remains of a large broken branch. This 

 branch had been split down, and then torn or cut away, leaving a 

 trunk attached to the tree, showing a transverse and a longitudinal 

 section ; this latter surface of the trunk had been softened by rain 

 and atmosphere, and formed a splendid field for these spiders to 

 build upon. On a surface measuring 18 inches by 9 I counted 

 20 houses, not all tenanted, some of the spiders having died or met 

 with violent deaths at the hands of their enemies. I secured this 

 trunk, and now have it in my possession. It is an interesting fact 

 that this tree and nearly all the trees on which I have found the 

 spiders grow in the High Street of Graham's Town, these trees 

 being oaks and " Kaffer-booms." The spiders for years past have 

 been able to look out of their little doors upon the busy world, and 

 no one knew they were there, until an old friend of mine, who spends 



