246 
ANIMAL CURIOSITIES 
threads which act as telephone wires. It then 
creeps stealthily upwards until it reaches the 
spot where its victim, such as a fly, has alighted, 
and with a rapid dart drives its fangs right 
through the silken wall and into the body of 
the unsuspecting insect outside the snare. 
The fly is then dragged down to the bottom 
of the nest for consumption, but before the 
spider commences its meal it mends the hole 
made in the tube when pulling its victim 
through. 
Other kinds of trap-door spiders make a 
different kind of nest, the top of the tubular 
and underground structure being sealed with 
a lid that sometimes takes the form of a thin 
and flat plate overlapping the entrance to the 
burrow, but more frequently is a thick and 
perfectly-fitting plug, the edges of which are 
bevelled and fixed to the wall of the tunnel by 
silken threads that form a hinge. This type 
of nest, however, is not in the nature of a 
snare, but is merely used as a habitation, the 
spider, which goes forth at night in search of 
its prey, reposing within its fortress during the 
daytime and defying the entry of its foes by 
clinging tightly to the silken lining of the tube 
and lid. 
Brief mention must be made of those 
creatures that take up the vocations of the 
