NATURE vSTUDY. 
38 
down the building of Exeter ’Change by his furious lunges, 
flying round his den with the vSpeed of a race-horse. In 
the midst of the crash of timber, and the hallooing of the 
assailants, he recognized the voice of his keeper in his 
usual cry, “ Chunee, bite—Chunee, bite,” which was his 
command to kneel; and the noble beast actually knelt, and 
received a volley of balls that terminated his suffering.— 
William Gardiner, in The Mnsic of Nat'ire.. 
A Trapdoor Spider. 
In many parts of California may be found in great numbers nests 
of the large trapdoor spider, Bothriocyrtuni californicuni. The 
plow has been very destructive of these, but the writer once esti¬ 
mated that, in a certain locality long untilled, there were in a sin¬ 
gle acre as many nests of large size as there were square yards, 
while the very small ones, detected with difficulty, were far more 
numerous. Any but a close observer might walk over fields where 
these are common without observing a single abode, so perfectly 
does the door simulate the ground surface, especially when rains 
are frequent, as the door then becomes completely covered with 
growing vegetation like that about it. 
Specimens of the nests—the upper part, including the door—are 
familiar objects in the shops of curio dealers, where they are of¬ 
fered for sale along with their stuffed and distorted builders. 
Not of less interest than the nest is the life histoiq^ of its maker. 
It lives much longer than spiders belonging to most other genera. 
One year after hatching it measures scarcel}^ three-sixteenths of an 
inch in length, exclusive of limbs, while an adult measures one and 
one fourth inches. 
By measuring the yearly growth of immature spiders, of various 
sizes, that were kept under surveillance for that purpose for three 
years, it was found that ten or fifteen years are recpiired for them 
to reach maturity. After that the S])ider’s life is problematic ; but 
several spiders known to have been adults three 3aairs ago are still 
relatively active. Bearing in mind its very peculiar life, which is 
one of little action, it is not unreasonable to believe that it may 
live more than twenty years, all told. 
More wonderful than its longevity is the fact that during its en¬ 
tire life, exclusive of the few months passed within the nest of the 
