14 
NATURE STUDY. 
find that the occupant discontinued the silken lining and drilled 
a shaft, smooth and straight, and gradually enlarged toward the 
bottom. If we have chosen one of the larger pits, we shall dig 
to the depth of sixteen to eighteen inches, and may discover the 
owner of this subterranean abode lying at the bottom of the 
shaft, waiting for an unlucky insect or other small creature which 
may be so unfortunate as to fall into her trap. 
Lycosa fatifera is one of our largest spiders, and an accurate 
description was first given by Hentz, iu his writings on the spi¬ 
ders of the United States : Bluish black ; cephalothorax deeper 
in color at the sides ; cheliceres covered with rufous hairs, and 
with a red elevation on their external side near the base.” 
Hentz mentions the fact that excavating these spiders is 
a very difficult task, and that he had 
recourse to inserting a slender straw 
until he felt resistance at the bottom of 
the shaft. He also states that ins ome 
instances he had brought the occupant 
to the surface in this manner, as the en¬ 
raged spider grasped the straw and clung 
to it with persistency. But there is a 
much easier, as well as more satisfac¬ 
tory, way of digging out Lycosa’s pitfalls. 
If calcined plaster, mixed very thin, is 
poured into the shaft, its gravity will 
cause it to sink to the bottom of the 
tube, the air rising and permitting the 
plaster to fill the shaft. If this then be 
allowed to “ set ” a few minutes, it will 
be found easy to excavate and secure a 
perfect cast of the entire tunnel. 
Hentz is responsible for the state¬ 
ment that Lycosa fatifera has a poisonous bite, but he adds 
that its cheliceres, or fangs, cannot open at an angle large enough 
to admit of its biting large objects, and he concludes that, as the 
