488 The Habits of a Tarantula. - [August, 
After a few days the female resumed her old habits, watching 
for prey, and became so tame that she would take water from my 
hand. She made but little change to the partial cover of her 
tube until November, then it was cut down and made flat to the: 
ground—perfectly concealed with leaves and moss and held firmly 
down with a strong web. This cover remained until the follow- 
ing April. I was waiting to see what the occupant would do, 
when an accident occurred. I was absent when the leaves were 
raked up, and the man, not observing my protection, raked all 
away: But in a few days thereafter the spider made anothef 
cover, entirely unlike the winter one, more like a little room. 
The nest is situated in a bed of green moss, and the cover looks 
like a little oval mound of moss and leaves. The longest diam- 
eter measures five inches over, and the shortest, four and a half 
inches. The base of the cover is made of acorn cups and sticks 7 
firmly held together with strands of silk, then a canopy of web q 
is made, and over this is laid green moss, dry pine needles, bits of = 
dry oak leaves and light sticks held fast with web. This makes 
a neat little upper room, the walls are smooth on the inside but 
rough outside. She leaves a window in the room, the object of 
which is apparent. She has a cocoon of eggs attached to the | 
spinneret, and she puts herself in position to let the cocoon rest — 
against the window where it receives the rays of the sun. For 
three weeks this has been her daily occupation—patiently hold- 
ing the eggs in the sun. oo 
On the 20th of May I took the cover from the tube and after 
it was removed it was some hours before I saw her, but toward . 
evening she reached out — 
with her hind-legs; feel- 
ing for material, she first 
a 
S 
Fic. 1.—s, surface 
of ground; a dc d, i 
silk-lined tunnel. Fic. 2.—Nest of Ti ee ies terina (?). 
_ drew in an acorn cup and proceeded to fasten it. How it w 
