. American spiders and their spinning work. A natural history of the orbweaving spiders of the United States, with special regard to their industry and habits. Spiders. 28 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR Fig. 10. A tarantula (Mygale) digging out her burrow. bunches of bananas, to which they had no doubt resorted as a convenient field for capturing prey, and were themselves captured and shipped, hidden away among the clusters of fruit. In the case of the spider " Leidy," described in Vol. IT., page 428, the only effort made at nest building was a rude burrow which was excava
. American spiders and their spinning work. A natural history of the orbweaving spiders of the United States, with special regard to their industry and habits. Spiders. 28 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR Fig. 10. A tarantula (Mygale) digging out her burrow. bunches of bananas, to which they had no doubt resorted as a convenient field for capturing prey, and were themselves captured and shipped, hidden away among the clusters of fruit. In the case of the spider " Leidy," described in Vol. IT., page 428, the only effort made at nest building was a rude burrow which was excavated against one side of the box, and which in the course of time was extended downward to the bottom of the box, and laterally along the bottom either way, thus forming an irregular cavity. Into this it frequently de- scended, dividing its time between the cave and the outside surface. This bur- row was entirely destitute of a silken lining, although oc- casionally the opening at the surface would be overspun with a thin sheet of spin- ningwork. I have seen the same habit in other individuals of the species kept in confinement. The only attempt at a nest ever observed by me has been this burrow, with an occasional sheeted closure, and more rarely a slight silken lining of the interior of the burrow. I believe, therefore, that the popular theory that the tarantula makes a trapdoor like the Cal- ifornia Cteniza is without foundation in fact, and that its ordinary hab- itat is a plain burrow like that made by most Lycosids. The mode of mak- ing the burrow was well observed by me at vari- ous In the act of digging the. spider first used the two leg like palps, the digital brushes of which are well adapted for that service. Then the two front feet were brought into play to gather up the loose pellets of soil and scrape them into a ball. The first and second pairs of legs then closed up around and under the balled mass, compress- ing it inside the mandibles. (Fig. 10.) When t
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectspiders, bookyear1889
