The Arizona sentinel., 1886-06-26
THE KING OF SPIDERS.
Habits of the Tarantula as Noted
 by a Naturalist.
A SilkeD Home Underground-Ferocit oi the Insect Tigers as Displayed in Their Pursuit of Prey - Its
 Enemy, the Hawk.

In wandering along the foothills of the Sierras after rain, on what is called adobe ground, the sharp-eyed ob- server will sometimes notice a sudden movement of the earth. A seeming leaf or bit of the soil about as large as a silver dollar will drop, quiver or shake. Some little prescience on the part of the walker will enable him to discover the cause of this, and close and careful examination will disclose an oval spot, perhaps an inch and half across, that seems separated from the surface. Now insert the point of your knife into one side and lift. Sure ly there is something holding back. Now you gain a quarter of an inch and obtaln a glimpse into the black cavern so uncovered of d hairy, uncannY look ing object, the tenant you are trying to evict. Another lift and something gives, and you have opened the door of one of the most cunningly devised and mar
 
 kingdom-the trap door of the king of the spiders, one of the commOnest but perhaps least known insects of South ern California; a huge, hairy fellow, sometimes three inches across, a men, ace to timid walkers and not particu- larly appreciated by the professional naturalist who is supposed to be en rap port with bugs and things.
 The first one 1 ever met, blood rela- ton of the above-the MygaIe GUicalGr1G of South -America-WaS- stormy nIS hC in 6iro Gulf Stream, about two hundred miles off Cape Florida. It was blowing fresh, and about midnight a rush overhead brought us on deck, where we found that the schooner was lying to, and near at hand was dis mantled hulk. The latter had been stripped in a hurricane, hailed from Trinidad, South America, and was loaded with the choicest preserved fruits. The only living creature aboard was one of these gigantic spiders, that, when rescued it from the bilge the next morn ing, settled down into a large saucer, its claws or legs reaching to the edge on either side-a most hideous and repul- sive object, the large hairy body re- sembling that of a plethoric mouse.
 The monster lives ln South America, in holes, and is close ally of the Cali fornia species. It preys upon quite large animals, birds the size of a sparrow fall ing victims to its web and mandibles, and altogether it IS the most ferocious and dreaded member of the insect tribe. The Southern California cousin is equal ly disagreeable, and as we pull it struggling and ugly from its den, the type of the spider, with its divided body, the abdomen attached by slender pedicle, is before us. If we penetrate into its interior organization we shall find that it breathes like the scorpion by lungs as well as air holes or trache@. The infant spider has at first four pairs of feet, like the grim adult that seems all legs, fierce vertical man. dibles ending in hollow points, that ex- tend into tubes, through which poison passes from poison reservoirs in the head. They vary as to their lungs and spinnerets; the large trap door spider has four lung sacks, but the number of spinnerets is restricted to two pairs. Such are some of the general features of the great spider, robbed of technical garnIshing.
 Everymove of the Cte'aizG Calitornica, as the large trap door spider is called. in the the construction of its nest, is seem- ingly instigated by wisdom. The selec- ton of locality is in adobe ground, that is as hard as stone in dry weather, and the methods of building their traps can not but excite the admiration of the ob- server. Their operations can best be watched at night, but sometimes during the day. When the site is chosen. the worker begins to loosen the earth with its mandibles, carrying it away. If the ground is hard, the work is slow, but by moving in circle cavern or well as large as a large thimble will be pro- duced Tn an hour, and in day a pit three or four inches deep and an inch in diameter will be dug. This accom- plished, the silk department of the in sect is brought into play, and the spinnerets are attached repeat edly to the sides of the wall until the in- terlor surface is covered with a wall paper of the finest silk, perfectly water tight. Generally the door is made next, but sometimes before. In form ing it the threads are passed across the opening until platform is con- structed of more or less sustaining power. Upon this the spider heaps bits of adobe, dirt or other material, work ing and binding it together with silk until it has thickness of an eighth of an inch. The silken threads are put on by a rotary motion of the spiders body. Finally the upper portion is sprinkled with powdered adobe, so that the cover is the exact color of the surrounding ground, and as it has been made to fit the orifce or opening of the well per fectly, it is water tight. The door has been perhaps attached to the sides at several points. These are all severed but one, which is now a perfect hinge, elastic and durable, and if we lift it up on the point of the knife it will be found that the little worker has provided pat