60 CURIOUS HOMES AND THEIK TENANTS. 



The slightest movement on the part of the 

 amazed spectator, who can scarcely credit his eyes, 

 is a signal for the immediate disappearance of doors 

 and dwarfs, of which, even on the most careful ex- 

 amination, not the slightest trace remains. It may 

 be a long time before the person who has had such 

 an experience meets a true explanation of the phe- 

 nomenon, for the people who live in the wilder parts 

 of these States and Territories are not naturalists, and 

 it is almost too strange a story to tell after returning 

 to more civilized parts of the country. 



The truth is, the pygmies seen, called cteniza by 

 scientific folks, mule-killers by the natives, are trap- 

 door spiders. The holes they live in are sometimes 

 twelve inches deep and an inch in diameter ; the 

 mouth is a little wider, and is covered by a thick lid 

 that fits snugly in it. The lid, or trapdoor, is made 

 of earth fastened together with threads of cobweb, 

 covered on the underside with silk that also lines 

 the hole or tube it covers, and is the material of 

 which the thick hinge on one side is made. "When 

 the cover is shut it is impossible to distinguish it from 

 the ground about it. Even if the exact spot it occu- 

 pies is located, when it happens to be lifted by the 

 spider inside, it is still impossible, without tearing, to 

 raise it again after it is closed, for the inmate of the 

 tunnel holds it shut with jaws and with her first two 

 pairs, of feet, while the other two pairs are firmly 

 braced against the walls of the tube. 



There are in Europe trapdoor spiders that practice 

 a sort of legerdemain trick to deceive would-be house' 



