Another mason-spider (_Mygale cœmentaria_, LATR.), found in the south of France, usually selects for her nest a place bare of grass, sloping in such a manner as to carry off the water, and of a firm soil, without rocks or small stones. She digs a gallery a foot or two in depth, and of a diameter (equal throughout) sufficient to admit of her easily passing. She lines this _with a tapestry of silk glued to the walls_. The door, which is circular, is constructed of many layers of earth kneaded, and bound together with _silk_. Externally, it is flat and rough, corresponding to the earth around the entrance, for the purpose, no doubt, of concealment: on the inside it is convex, _and tapestried thickly with a web of fine silk_. The threads of this door-tapestry are prolonged, and strongly attached to the upper side of the entrance, forming an excellent hinge, which, when pushed open by the spider, shuts again by its own weight, without the aid of spring hinges. When the spider is at home, and her door forcibly opened by an intruder, she pulls it strongly inwards, and even where half-opened often snatches it out of the hand; but when she is foiled in this, she retreats to the bottom of her den, as her last resource[176]. The nest of this spider (the mason spider) is represented in Plate IV. Fig. 14., and shows the nest shut. Fig. 15., represents it open. Fig. 16. the spider (_Mygale cœmentaria_). Fig. 17. the eyes magnified. Figures 18 and 19 parts of the foot and claw magnified. Rossi ascertained that the female of an allied species (_Mygale sauvagesii_, LATR.), found in Corsica, lived in one of these nests, with a numerous posterity. He destroyed one of the doors to observe whether a new one would be made, which it was; but it was fixed immoveably, without a hinge; the spider, no doubt, fortifying herself in this manner till she thought she might re-open it without danger[177]. [176] Mém. Soc. d’Hist. Nat. de Paris, An. vii. [177] Mém. Soc. d’Hist. Nat. de Paris, An. vii. p. 125, and Latreille, Hist. Nat. Génér. viii. p. 163. “The Rev. Revett Shepherd has often noticed, in the fen ditches of Norfolk, a very large spider (the species not yet determined) which actually forms a _raft_ for the purpose of obtaining its prey with more facility. Keeping its station upon a ball of weeds about three inches in diameter, probably held together by slight silken cords, it is wafted along the surface of the water upon this floating island, which it quits the moment it sees a drowning insect. The booty thus seized it devours at leisure upon its raft, under which it retires when alarmed by any danger[178].” In the spring of 1830, Mr. Rennie found a spider on some reeds in the Croydon Canal, which agreed in appearance with Mr. Shepherd’s. [178] Kirby and Spence, Intr. i. 425.