found one of these spiders ready to oppose me, though Nemesia meridionalis and N. Eleanora frequently did so. Many times, wishing to provoke them, I have tapped at the door in order to apprise the occupant of my arrival, or lifted it and let it fall again, and always in vain, though the spider was there, crouching at the bottom of her tube.
Indeed I can only recall six or eight instances in which this spider did hold down her door, and on three of these she was captured.
I will now relate what I saw on one of these occasions,[1] for there has been much speculation as to the manner in which the spider clings to the door and offers the determined resistance which is experienced.
No sooner had I gently touched the door with the point of a penknife than it was drawn slowly downwards, with a movement which reminded me of the tightening of a limpet on a sea-rock, so that the crown which at first projected a little way above, finally lay a little below the surface of the soil. I then contrived to raise the door very gradually, despite the strenuous efforts of the occupant, till at length I was just able to see into the nest, and to distinguish the spider holding on to the door with all her might, lying back downwards, with her fangs and all her claws driven into the silk lining of the under surface of the door. The body of the spider was placed across, and filled up, the tube, the head being away from the hinge, and
- ↑ Mrs. Boyle was the first to witness this curious sight, and my description of the resistance of the spider is almost an exact repetition of hers to me. It is curious also that, following her indications, I found the very nest and spider on which she had made her observations, and every detail recurred again though several days had elapsed between her visit and mine.
