200 THE UNIVERSE. 



thus named, occupies itself in this way. It is a true 

 sybarite, which incloses itself in its abode, and there 

 reposes upon soft yielding drapery. 



Its habitation consists of a hole several inches deep and 

 perfectly cylindrical. The workwoman tapestries all the 

 interior. For this purpose she imitates the decorator who 

 places only a coarse material next the wall, and afterwards 

 covers it with his rich hangings. The spider also makes 

 use of a double layer; the one, Avhich it fixes upon the 

 rough earthen wall of its subterranean hole, is thick and 

 negligently wrought; the other, Avhicli is placed over this, 

 is, on the contrary, woven with her finest silk and skilfully 

 hung. 



The entrance to the habitation is closed as hermetically 

 as it can possibly be by a little door or lid, the lower side 

 of which is slightly convex and furnished with a cushion of 

 silk, whilst the upper part is made of the same materials 

 as the soil, in such a manner that when the insect is in- 

 closed within its abode, nothing Avithout reveals its ex- 

 istence. This door itself is a little master-piece of finish 

 and patience. The Mygale possesses the intelligence of 

 the miner, but in no degree that of the joiner or potter; 

 hence it learns from its own resources to bariicade its 

 refuge. The solid lid which serves it for this purpose is 

 composed of layers of silk, between each of which is found 

 a layer of earth. When the task is completed, forty alter- 

 nate layers of silk and earth can he counted, and it is with 

 the first, Avhich extend from the soil to the door, that the 

 little elastic hinge is formed. 



When the spider Avants to issue forth, it lifts this kind 

 of mobile cover, and Avhen it re-enters its underground 

 abode, it shuts up its threshold close and sleeps in security. 

 But should any noise, any shaking, intimate that an at- 



