THE AT YE US SUEZ ERL 
67 
One of the best, if not indeed the very best, examples of the 
British burrowing Arachnida is the remarkable species, Atypus 
Sulzeri , a creature which is so rare as to have received no 
English name. It is a small species, not half an inch in length, 
but it is a curiously-constructed being; and were it made on 
a larger scale, would be a really formidable species. Its jaws 
are long, sharply pointed, and remarkably stout at their bases — 
so stout, indeed, that, but for a remarkable adaptation of struc- 
ture, it would not be able to see anything in front. 
None of these spiders have a separate head, that part of the 
body and the thorax being fused together, and forming what is 
called by naturalists a 4 cephalo thorax/ i.e. a head-thorax. The 
same structure may be observed in the scorpion, and also in the 
common lobster, the shrimp, and other Crustacea. The eyes, as 
in all spiders, are rather close together, and are placed upon the 
upper part of this cephalothorax ; but so large are the bases of 
the jaws, that they rise far above the level of the cephalothorax : 
and if the eyes were placed in the ordinary manner would act 
like the 4 blind ’ that is hung over the eyes of a bad-tempered 
bull. In order, however, to enable the spider to see objects 
in front, a sort of little turret rises from the cephalothorax, and 
on its summit are placed the eyes. Naturalists familiarly call 
this projection the ‘ watch-tower.’ 
This spider inhabits moist situations, and burrows into the 
banks, the direction of the burrow being at first horizontal and 
then sloping downwards. It is lined with a remarkably com- 
pact silken tube, beautifully white, and about half an inch in 
diameter. The upper part of the tube is rather larger than the 
lower, and projects from the earth, falling forward so as to form 
a flap, which protects the mouth of the burrow. Specimens of 
this remarkable spider have been obtained from several parts of 
England. 
Several large spiders that live mostly upon the ground are 
confounded together under the general name of Tarantula. 
There is scarcely a part of the world where is not found some 
great Lycosa, or Wolf-spider, that is popularly called by the 
