here, nearly
covered with its legs an ordinary-sized breakfast plate.[1]

[Footnote 1: See Plate opposite.]

This hideous creature does not weave a broad web or spin a net like
other spiders, but nevertheless it forms a comfortable mansion in the
wall of a neglected building, the hollow of a tree, or under the eave of
an overhanging stone. This it lines throughout with a tapestry of silk
of a tubular form; and of a texture so exquisitely fine and closely
woven, that no moisture can penetrate it. The extremity of the tube is
carried out to the entrance, where it expands into a little platform,
stayed by braces to the nearest objects that afford a firm hold. In
particular situations, where the entrance is exposed to the wind, the
mygale, on the approach of the monsoon, extends the strong tissue above
it so as to serve as an awning to prevent the access of rain.

The construction of this silken dwelling is exclusively designed for the
domestic luxury of the spider; it serves no purpose in trapping or
securing prey, and no external disturbance of the web tempts the
creature to sally out to surprise an intruder, as the epeira and its
congeners would.

By day it remains concealed in its den, whence it issues at night to
feed on larvae and worms, devouring cockroaches and their pupae, and
attacking the millepeds, gryllotalpae, and other fleshy insects.

Mr. EDGAR L. LAYARD has described[1] an encounter between a Mygale and a
cockroach, which he witnessed in the madua of a temple at Alittane,
between Anarajapoora and Dambool. When about a yard apart, each
discerned the other and stood still, the spider with his legs slightly
bent and his body raised, the cockroach confronting him and directing
his antennae with a restless undulation towards his enemy. The spider, by
stealthy movements, approached to within a few inches and paused, both
parties eyeing each other intently; then suddenly a rush, a scuffle, and
both fell to the ground, when the blatta's wings closed, the spider
seized it under the throat with his claws, and dragged it into a corner,
when the action of his jaws was distinctly audible. Next morning Mr.
Layard found that the soft parts of the body had been eaten, nothing but
the head, thorax, and clytra remaining.

[Footnote 1: _Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist._ May, 1853.]

But, in addition to minor and ignoble prey, the Mygale rests under the
imputation of seizing small birds and feasting on their blood. The
author