If you try to lift it, you find it is fastened
by a hinge on one side, and, if it is turned over upon the hole,
it fits it exactly, and the earthy side being then uppermost,
it is quite impossible to detect the situation of the nest. Unfortunately,
this cavity for breeding is never seen except when the owner is out,
and has left the door open behind her.
In some parts of the country there are great numbers of a large,
beautiful yellow-spotted spider, the webs of which are about a yard
in diameter. The lines on which these webs are spun are suspended
from one tree to another, and are as thick as coarse thread.
The fibres radiate from a central point, where the insect waits for its prey.
The webs are placed perpendicularly, and a common occurrence in walking
is to get the face enveloped in them as a lady is in a veil.
Another kind of spider lives in society, and forms so great
a collection of webs placed at every angle, that the trunk of a tree
surrounded by them can not be seen. A piece of hedge is often
so hidden by this spider that the branches are invisible.
Another is seen on the inside of the walls of huts among the Makololo
in great abundance.
