often
an inch in diameter and run into the ground to a depth of more than a
foot; but they are not perpendicular. The inhabitant of this gut
proves that she is at the same time a skilful hunter and an able
engineer. It was a question for her not only of constructing a deep
retreat that could hide her from the pursuit of her foes: she also had
to set up her observatory whence to watch for her prey and dart out
upon it. The Tarantula provides for every contingency: the
underground passage, in fact, begins by being vertical, but, at four
or five inches from the surface, it bends at an obtuse angle, forms a
horizontal turning and then becomes perpendicular once more. It is at
the elbow of this tunnel that the Tarantula posts herself as a
vigilant sentry and does not for a moment lose sight of the door of
her dwelling; it was there that, at the period when I was hunting her,
I used to see those eyes gleaming like diamonds, bright as a cat's
eyes in the dark.

'The outer orifice of the Tarantula's burrow is usually surmounted by
a shaft constructed throughout by herself. It is a genuine work of
architecture, standing as much as an inch above the ground and
sometimes two inches in diameter, so that it is wider than the burrow
itself. This last circumstance, which seems to have been calculated
by the industrious Spider, lends itself admirably to the necessary
extension of the legs at the moment when the prey is to be seized. The
shaft is composed mainly of bits of dry wood joined by a little clay
and so artistically laid, one above the other, that they form the
scaffolding of a straight column, the inside of which is a hollow
cylinder. The solidity of this tubular building, of this outwork, is
ensured above all by the fact that it is lined, upholstered within,
with a texture woven by the Lycosa's {3} spinnerets and continued
throughout the interior of the burrow. It is easy to imagine how
useful this cleverly-manufactured lining must be for preventing
landslip or warping, for maintaining cleanliness and for helping her
claws to scale the fortress.

'I hinted that this outwork of the burrow was not there invariably; as
a matter of fact, I have often come across Tarantulas' holes without a
trace of it, perhaps because it had been accidentally destroyed by the
weather, or because the Lycosa may not always light up