466 



ARTICULATA. 



[Chap. XIII. 



room of the rest-house there, nearly covered with its 

 legs an ordinary-sized breakfast plate. 1 



This hideous creature does not weave a broad web or 

 spin a net like other spiders, but nevertheless it forms a 

 comfortable mansion in the wall of a neglected building, 

 the hollow of a tree, or under the eave of an overhang- 

 ing stone. This it lines throughout with a tapestry of 

 silk of a tubular form ; and of a texture so exquisitely 

 fine and closely woven, that no moisture can penetrate 

 it. The extremity of the tube is carried out to the 

 entrance, where it expands into a little platform, stayed 

 by braces to the nearest objects that afford a firm hold. 

 In particular situations, where the entrance is exposed 

 to the wind, the mygale, on the approach of the mon- 

 soon, extends the strong tissue above it so as to serve 

 as an awning to prevent the access of rain. 



The construction of this silken dwelling is exclusively 

 designed for the domestic luxury of the spider ; it serves 

 no purpose in trapping or securing prey, and no external 

 disturbance of the web tempts the creature to sally out 

 to surprise an intruder, as the epeira and its congeners 

 would. 



By day it remains concealed in its den, whence it 

 issues at night to feed on larvae and worms, devouring 

 cockroaches and their pupao, and attacking the millepeds, 

 gryllotalpse, and other fleshy insects. 



Mr. Edgar L. Layard has described 2 an encounter 

 between a Mygale and a cockroach, which he witnessed 

 in the madua of a temple at Alittane, between Anaraja- 

 poora and Dambool. When about a yard apart, each 



1 See Plate opposite, 



2 Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. 

 May, 1853. 



