A raneae . 
95 
is very similar in appearance to that of an Agelenid spider. The Table-case 
Aviculariidae live in hollow trees, under stones, or in burrows or No ‘ 22 ‘ 
natural hollows in the ground. The species which excavate a 
burrow rarely close the entrance with a trap-door. 
The burrows of a South American species ( Ephebopus murinus ), Wall-case 
together with examples of the spider itself, are shown in Wall- • No * 7 * 
case 7. Nests of the common bird-eating spider (Avicularia 
avicularia) of the north of South America, constructed in the 
hollow trunk of a palm tree, and in the rolled-up leaf of a banana, 
are also shown in this Wall-case, and specimens of the spider, and 
also of other species of bird-eating spiders, are placed in Table- 
case 22. 
Fam. — Gtenizidae. 
In the Ctenizidae the feet are not furnished with apical tufts 
or pads of hair. The chelicerae are furnished with digging 
spines. 
On account of their neatness and of the ingenuity displayed 
in their construction, the trap-door nests of these spiders have 
long attracted attention. The nest takes the form of a long 
tunnel in the ground, the interior of which is . lined with 
smooth silk, the entrance being often closed by a neatly 
fashioned trap-door, the outer surface of which exactly matches 
its surroundings, so that it is practically invisible when closed. 
The spider often constructs one or more side chambers to 
the burrow, and sometimes shuts them off from the main 
part of the tunnel by additional trap-doors, thus ensuring a 
place of refuge in case the outer door is forced by an enemy. 
Some of the species, which do not close the entrance to the nest 
by a trap-door, erect a turret of grass or small twigs, bound 
together by web, around it. In some instances ( Pseudidiops , etc.) 
the trap-door spider constructs its nest on the trunk of a tree, 
spinning a silken tube in the crevices of the bark, and overlaying 
it with chips of bark and lichen, so as to strengthen its walls and 
to conceal it from view (Table-case 22). Most of the spiders of 
this family have the carapace and limbs smooth and polished, and 
the abdomen clothed with short dense hair, so that no impediment 
is offered to rapid movement in the silk-lined burrow. 
Two burrows of a trap-door spider ( Actinopus wallacei), from Wall-case 
Brazil, are exhibited in Wall-case 7. In one of them the spider No * 7 - 
is cautiously raising the lid, on the watch for approaching prey. 
