TRAP-DOOR SPIDERS.

MOST English people have been to Hampton Court Palace, and beheld with wondering eyes the beautiful and famous tapestries hanging on the walls of some of the apartments.

Now these tapestries represent the combined efforts of many heads and hands, which had been in constant practice for many years, work

ing by certain rules, and in the light

of discoveries made in the experience of many generations of artists and weavers. From this we see that it would be impossible to estimate the length of time, the vast amount of education, and the practised skill necessary for the production of the exquisitely-designed and perfectly-executed pieces of work which all the world. flocks to see at Hampton Court.

What do you think of a little lone creature which,

when only a few days old, has been turned out of its mother's nest to make its own way in the world, decorating its home with silken hangings of the most delicate texture, exquisite colour, and perfect finish? No doubt the instincts and tools have been given to her by Mother Nature; still, does it not seem marvellous that a spider can do work, without any practice, equally as wonderful as that which it has taken generations of men, and years of close application, to invent and complete? Yet such is the case. could put on the cap of invisibility, and enter one of the tubular dwellings of the mygale spider, we should find her halls hung with beautiful gold-coloured tapestries of dazzling brilliancy, all spun from her own body, and applied, by her own ingenuity, for the comfort and decoration of her home.

If we

Doubtless of all the many, many species of spider that exist, the mygale is worthy of the most attention ; her patience, intelligence, and industry being remarkable, even for a spider.

It is quite easy to discover the whereabouts of a house or garden spider. She makes no secret of her abode, and spreads her net in the sight of all men. But it is no trifling matter, even to the practised eye, to find the entrance to the house of the mygale.

She generally chooses a sloping bank, and commences the formation of her nest by boring in the earth a round hole somewhat resembling a miniature rabbit-burrow, varying from four to ten inches in depth

and one inch in circumference.

Do not imagine, how

ever, that she proceeds in the same easy manner as a rabbit—that is, by scraping away the earth with its front paws, and throwing it out with its hind legs.

The mygale's tube costs her an infinite amount of hard, patient labour. All the excavated earth is carefully carried out of the hole in tiny pellets, and deposited in a convenient spot for the spider's use when she makes the wonderful little trap-door with which she closes and secures her dwelling.

Because they are the only kind which construct nests closed with trap-doors, these spiders have been called Nature's handicraftsmen and inventors.

When the hole has been carefully scooped out, the mygale proceeds to spin round the rough earth walls the beautiful tapestry already mentioned. First she puts a layer of coarse brownish web; then over this a finer one; and, lastly, the most delicate and exquisitely soft silk is woven to complete this royal decoration of the house wherein she lays her eggs and nurtures her young.

The most curious and ingenious part of her dwelling is, however, the door, made to exactly fit the top of the tube.

No practised mechanic could contrive a better or more perfectly-concealed entrance. It is round, and somewhat cone-shaped, being larger in circumference on the top side than it is at the base. This form has not been accidentally hit upon by the spider, but is

contrived on purpose that any outside pressure which may be brought to bear upon the door, should not send it into the tube, and thus destroy at one stroke the nest and its maker, to say nothing of the embryo spiders which may be resting underground in the shape of eggs.

Having made her door with alternate layers of earth and web, she next proceeds to fasten it to the mouth of her dwelling with a strong, neat, elastic hinge of her own weaving, and, finally, lines the inner side of the lid with a silken covering similar to that with which she has already padded her nest. The interior is thus made snug; but what about the exterior? We have said that it is difficult to find a mygale's nest; but, unless something be done to hide the bare outside of the door, a round patch of earth will be easily discerned amid the surrounding verdure.

The spider has evidently thought of all this. She has eight eyes of her own, and she uses them-which is more than we can say of ourselves very often. She perceives that ruin and death would soon be her lot were she to allow her front door to remain so conspicuous; therefore she looks about for the best means of concealing it. She notices that the surrounding earth is covered with mosses or grass; she also observes that they grow out of the soil; so she digs up a few roots, and plants them in the bare earth on the outside of her door. So carefully and cleverly does she do this, that, even when one knows