Show tho wonders of cobwebs sec anything ing peculiar c culiar about this a naturalist u asked pi led ofa of a reporter who had lind dropped into his sanctum at high bridge the object he be held up was a block of earth about eight inches in length und four in width resembling more than anything else tho frozen arth lifted out ofa of a small flower pot with the upper surface planted with growing mosses and small plants of ot various various kinds in this block of earth he lie contin continued tied there is a regular palace and tho the door is is rig right lit under your nose As lie spoke he inserted a long pin into tho the ground among the moss and lifted up tip an oval door that exposed a it large deep well lined with avith silk filk in a most gorgeous manner and as a gleam of sunlight frim from the window caught the gossamer gossain in r it seemed changed to molten silver deepening in the interior to a golden yellow and at it every move scintillating with dazzling rays rays of iridescence in stran strange coll contrast to the rough am tre surroundings its wonderful vond erful tho the naturalist said you hardly expect so much from a spider and tho the dios most tr skilful alful work from human hands fails to come up to this its tho the castlo of the trapdoor trap door caider and this one I found near charleston S V you sec we it s it well about five inches deep and two wide lined with silk and having on top a door that fits flis so exactly that your close examination failed to detect it A perfect hinge of alk allows it to wo wok k fi freely eely and it is so nicely arranged that it always closes caes after the owner has passed in or out how Ilow did these mosses and weeds get go on the door of the trap in many cases the spider places them there its idea being to make the place resemble as near nearly lyas as possible the surrounding country and so skilful arc ate they in hiding biding their doors that I hunted two weeks before I found this one and then it was only by chance I had been tramping through tho the woods wood nearly all day and was stretched out on a bank about half asleep when I heard a rustle at my elbow and looked down just in time to seen see a trapdoor trap door fly up and go down with a jerk and you may be sure I commenced operations at once when A I had bad located the booi exactly I dug a trench all around it down about ab out a foot and worked as near tho the trap as I could and after cam win I ming it down as you see it I gave it t four or five good coats of glue and ultimately got it out safely while I was at work it was curl curious ous to sec see the alarm odthe of the spider ever every y few minutes the door would lift a little and I would see the hairy leg of the little fellow but the slightest tap would send it down clown after one of these retreats I inserted my knife blade into the door and tried to lift it something was holding it back on oil the other side ide evidently as it did not lift up with the caso case with iv which I had seen it ander tinder the nimble i handling of the owner bending down and lifting the door at the same time I saw caw the cause tho the 81 spider i der was holding the door down its ta mandibles were fastened into the silken lining while with its feet it was br bracing acing back and holding on with all its strength and only when I had bad lifted it almost almost put did it let go and retreat to tho the lower part af f the tile well where it coiled up its legs and pretended tobe dead how do they build the traps just as a man would build a well after making their selection da oa locality they commence taking out out bits onearth of earth with their mouths months and pushing them away their legs As soon as they get below the surface a shoring up tip process is bogun begun silk is spun and attached to by some secretion the door is a prolongation of this sil silken en wall so as the spider works down caving in in is prevented in this way and finally the outer side of tho the dobr is naturally bright is covered with soil and bits of moss arc are placed on it there ace are a number of different kinds of trapdoor trap door spiders in this country and europe some having two or three traps in in tho the different parts of the well the spider retreating from one to another as danger presses heros heres a spider he said handing banding down one of a number of glass ja jars rs covered with f fine ine gauze that builds a web tunnel after the general shape of the tb c trap but it is infinitely more d delicate cli cate and is always at right angles with the surface and contains no doors doom by hold ing the jar ui up against the sun tho the fairylike fairy like tunnel could bo be traced following around the side of the jar perfectly cylindrical and after extending four or five inches widening out into a broad abroad web or platform that was held in place by myriads of single silvery and ud almost microscopic cables extending from it to the upper part of the glass the web in front the naturalist n a thiral con continued tinned is to catch prey and the whole edifice was built in in one night by ekht rights the spider would be hibernating or in the winter sleep but I am ain keeping them in a warm room to prevent this and see what they will avill do to or what wha t the effect will ivill be there is a fl fly now watch the spider the reporter held a large hand band magnifying glass over the web and the fly was released in the jar landing on the fat fatal al platform orm at the f first hum bum the spider darted out r with ith its erl fl asting and anding its two foredt forekos in the air the instant the fly struck the spider was on it grasping it firmly in its jaws and soon had it in in the filken tunnel IV Y r sun |