g6 Trap-Door Spiders. 



loose web over the mouth of the broken tube and the young 

 had all crept out and died in the crevices of the earth. They 

 had not eaten each other to any appreciable extent, and cer- 

 tainly had not filled the traditional contract to devour their 

 devoted mother. 



There is a fact that gives a faint color of truth to this be- 

 lief Sometimes the doors of a nest is sealed down. A ring 

 of silk, almost a quarter of an inch w^ide is woven inside, 

 holding the door fast to the tube. This thick white band can 

 be separated from the nest, showing that it was added after 

 the house was completed. At the bottom of the tube is 

 found the shell of a spider, not the shriveled up body. If the 

 young ate her, how did they get out afterwards? If she 

 found herself wounded unto death, and sealing her door she 

 hid away in the silence and darkness to make her home her 

 tomb — Who ate her? The sides of the tube are smooth and 

 solid, the woven silk is close and compact, the remains are of 

 a victim or eaten subject, not of a mummy, and it is not easy 

 to explain the phenomena. 



Nothing is more interesting about these interesting peo- 

 ple than the existence of such catacombs. As the door 

 closes, like doors in a ghost story, of its own accord after 

 the spider has left the house, she shows no little inge- 

 nuity in getting in when she comes home again. She 

 feels around and gives a pull, and if the door sticks she 

 removes debris that an unkind hand may have placed 

 on the trap. Then as she cannot see downward, she 

 continues to feel around with her feet for familiar places. She 

 inserts her claws in the roughnesses of the earth and pulls till 

 she finds the hinge side, then bracing her feet outside the tube 

 to use as levers, she catches her fangs in the top opposite the 

 hinge, and pulls upward by lifting her whole body. As soon 

 as the door yields and opens a little she inserts her front feet 

 and pulls it wider, and then sliding over the top w^hen it is 

 half open, disappears — pulling the door to after her. 



The Ctenizas work readily in confinement. Sometimes they 

 finish the tube before adding the door, and other times soon 

 build the door and thus protected carry on improvements at 

 their leisure. They generally work at night, but will pull 

 down the door and remove obstructions from it in the day. 

 They are so shy that it is difficult to catch them workrng. 

 They will work in a lighted room if it is quiet, and in this way 

 I have watched them build nests and make doors. They have 

 an interesting way of getting rid of the earth when they are 



