74 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 
will enlarge the margins of the sheeted parts thereof, and will also enlarge 
the tubular tent. The supporting lines above are also continually strength- 
ened. ‘These spiders may be seen in these acts from time to time by one 
who cares to watch their habits. We thus reach the conclusion that those 
web making spiders that dwell in permanent homes, to which snares are 
attached, are in the habit of frequently repairing the same; while those 
which make more ephemeral snares, as the Orbweavers, permit them to be 
quite worn out as a rule, whereupon they proceed to build new webs. 
There are, however, exceptions to the above, and occasionally Orbweavers 
will be found patching their webs. The reasons for this difference, of 
course, are found in the different characters of the webs themselves, as has 
heretofore been fully explained in Vol. I. of this work, and need not be 
here further entered upon. 
X. 
Mr. Walter Titus, a youth engaged upon a ranch in the neighborhood 
of Los Angeles, made a number of intelligent observations upon Trapdoor 
spider nests, which are furnished me through the kindness of 
Intelli- iss Estelle Thompson.1 This lady is decidedly of the opinion 
a that the nests of the California Trapdoor spider are quite com- 
monly placed in such positions as to allow of good drainage, 
that is to say, so that the nests are protected from excessive rains. 
In attempting to lift the lid it was invariably found to be held down, 
as though by suction from underneath. In one case a spider which was 
holding down a trapdoor did not let go until the lid was lifted, when 
she slid into the tube as though going down a well. A full grown spider 
can force up the door of its house, even when there are three ounces of 
lead on the top thereof. The manner of entrance to and exit from the 
_ burrow is well described by Mr. Titus. When the spider wants 
masined to leave home it lifts the lid by pushing from beneath; and 
when, on the contrary, it wants to reénter its nest it lifts the 
lid with its mandible, fastening its hooked fangs thereinto, then places 
its two front legs down into the hole, as though to stay up the hinged 
trap, and thereupon darts within. It is evident that before retreating she 
reverses her position, for it is stated that she backs down the nest, and 
the lid closes by its own weight. 
The first door that Cteniza makes after she is old enough to set up 
housekeeping is composed almost wholly of silk. The next one will not 
contain so great a proportion of silk, and succeeding ones each a less 
1T have given on page 29 an abstract of some observations on the California Trapdoor 
spider made by Miss Estelle Thompson. Having written for more accurate and fuller 
details, the following facts came too late to be used in connection with the aboye, but in time 
to add to this chapter of Miscellany. 
