emerged and began digging the hole out larger, using only 
the forward pair of legs and throwing the sand backwards 
between its hind legs precisely like a dog digging at a 
a. • v J'\ ‘ v . v -. . • ••,. , * ■, 1 ^ i ( ■■ \ ' ,K / ; /V.* 
Woodchuck 1 s hole. 
.bent It returned to the spider, running perfectly 
straight to the spot through the-grass and then resuming the 
dragging until it had again reached the hole down which it 
backed, . ullin the snider in after it, not without difficulty. 
Reappearing at the entrance, it came out, looked about for 
a hsoment and then began shovel! 3 it , the hole fro : 
pile which had evidently been made during the process of 
excavation and throwing it backwards with the fore legs, as 
just described. 
'.Then' the hole was filled to within about a quarter 
of an inch of the surrounding surface. It scattered the 
remaining sand in every direction until not a trace of the 
original pile remained. It then returned to the hole and, 
the edges with _ 
st nding directly over it, began biting wlth-tae-ed^ee erf 
£> \ 
its jaws and shaking the earth thus loosened down into the , 
hole. After spending a few seconds in this way, it.would 
» 
vibrate its abdomen up and down and sideways with great 
rapidity and with .so ouch force that the whole body snook 
violently. 4t first I thought' it was depositing eggs but 
after watching it for some time I concluded that it used 
Its abdomen as a beetle (does) to tamp the earth firmly in 
place. It continued this remarkable performance for fully 
fifteen minutes, the periods of biting and tamping alternating 
with perfect regularity. 7hen it finally ceased from its 
