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Show °°'•] TREE TRAPDOOR SPIDER. 41 inches in depth. The house is not a burrow, though the spider often takes advantage of holes and deep crevices; but usually it is constructed on the surface of the bark, especially if there are lumps or prominences near the chosen spot. The spider commences to build by weaving together pieces of bark and other substances found in the immediate neighbourhood of the proposed house. This part of the work is so skilfully carried out that, when complete, it is almost impossible to detect any difference between the house and the surrounding bark. I have often placed a piece of bark in the hand of a friend and asked that the house might be pointed out to me, and this often proves a very difficult task. I know of nothing in Nature to surpass this wonderful structure, so far as it is an imitation. I have had several of these spiders under observation for many months, both in their natural haunts and in captivity. Being anxious to know how the doors of their homes are constructed, their doors being the most wonderful part of the structure, I procured a piece of old stump from a tree and drilled several holes into it through the different kinds of surfaces presented on the bark. Into each of these holes I introduced a spider ; they remainded quite quiet and almost motionless during the day at the end of the hole, but on visiting the stump the next morning, I could not find the holes until I had made a careful search. I then found that a beautiful door had been constructed over each opening, and that each door had been made to correspond with the immediately surrounding surface. One hole had been drilled through a growth of lichen ; the door in this instance was made to correspond so perfectly that the lichen looked undisturbed, and only after careful inspection could the outline of the door be detected. In another instance some little pieces of wood, left by the drill on the border of the hole, were woven into the door. At first the covering to the opening is very thin, like paper, its thickness being increased by numerous layers of silk being added to the inside surface of the door. In this way the sides of the house are strengthened, the whole being very strong when completed. In a few trees where circumstances are favourable a number of these wonderful houses are to be found, but only by an experienced eye. In exploring an old tree some months ago, 1 found, high up in the tree, the remains of a large broken branch. This branch had been split down, and then torn or cut away, leaving a trunk attached to the tree, showing a transverse and a longitudinal section ; this latter surface of the trunk had been softened by rain and atmosphere, and formed a splendid field for these spiders to build upon. On a surface measuring 18 inches by 9 I counted 20 houses, not all tenanted, some of the spiders having died or met with violent deaths at the hands of their enemies. I secured this trunk, and now have it in m y possession. It is an interesting fact that this tree and nearly all the trees on which I have found the spiders grow in the High Street of Graham's Town, these trees being oaks and " Kaffer-booms." The spiders for years past have been able to look out of their little doors upon the busy world, and no one knew they were there, until an old friend of mine, who spends |