oor, or any other device. I
stooped low, but without avail. Then my guide stooped, and with a long
needle pried up a semicircular or almost circular bit of the gray soil
nearly the size of a silver quarter of a dollar, which hinged on the
straight side of it, and behold--the entrance to the spider's castle! I
was not prepared for anything so novel and artistic--a long silken
chamber, about three quarters of an inch in diameter, concealed by a
silken trap-door, an inch in its greatest diameter. The under side of
the door, a dull white, the color of old ivory, is slightly convex, and
its top is a brownish gray to harmonize with its surroundings, and
slightly concave. Its edges are beveled so that it fits into the flaring
or beveled end of the chamber with the utmost nicety. No joiner could
have done it better. A faint semicircular raised line of clay as fine as
a hair gave the only clue. The whole effect, when the door was held
open, was of a pleasing secret suddenly revealed.

Then we walked about the place, and, knowing exactly what to look for, I
gave my eyes another chance, but they were slow to profit by it. My
guide detected one after another, and when I failed, he would point them
put to me. But presently I caught on, as they say, and began to find
them unaided.

We often found the lord of the manor on duty as doorkeeper, and in no
mood to see strangers. He held his door down by inserting his fangs in
two fine holes near the edge and bracing himself, or, rather, herself
(as, of course, it is the female), offered a degree of resistance
surprising in an insect. If one persists with a needle, there is often
danger of breaking the door. But when one has made a crack wide enough
to allow one to see the spider, she lets go her hold and rushes farther
down in her burrow.

Occasionally we found one about half the usual size, indicating a young
spider, but no other sizes. My guide said they only emerge from their
tunnel at night, and proved it by an ingenious mechanical device made of
straws attached to the door. When the door was opened, the straws lifted
up, but did not fall down when it was closed. Whenever he found the
straw still up in the morning he knew the door had been opened in the
night.

As they are nocturnal in habits, they doubtless prey upon other insects,
such as sow-bugs and crickets, which the night brings forth. Two bright
specks upon the top of the head appear to be eyes, but they are so small
they