118 HOME STUDIES IX NATURE. 



a third turn, and now came to the edge of the tube, 

 always with its back to the glass, and adjusted its fore- 

 feet so that the tips touched beneath and partly behind 

 the ball of earth, and with a sudden movement of the 

 feet, like the snapping of a . finger, it sent the earth 

 with sufficient force to make it hit the opposite side of 

 the jar. I took some of the pellets, and found that the 

 earth was held together with a kind of mucilage, and 

 sometimes mixed with web. 



This little creature — only about half an inch in length 

 • — was the fastest worker of any I have on record. In 

 four hours she had dug to the depth of three inches, 

 never stopping for a moment, although the jar sat on 

 the table near the lamp, where I was moving books 

 and papers, and part of the time conversing with a 

 friend, yet nothing diverted her from the main busi- 

 ness of establishing a home. In the morning she had 

 reached the bottom of the jar, and was not satisfied, so 

 I put her with the rest, where her energy and persever- 

 ance might have full scope. The ground was in good 

 condition, and she very soon commenced a second bur- 

 row. She has not covered her retreat, and every pleas- 

 ant day— -now December — she comes up and looks 

 around ; she is under glass, which makes it quite warm 

 when the sun shines. 



The greatest perfection of tubular nests, however, 

 culminates with spiders that live in warm countries, 

 and make trap-doors with bevelled edges that fit into 

 the top of the tube perfectly ; and the spider, when 



