Such of them as live in the woods select with singular sagacity the bridle-paths and narrow passages for expanding their nets; perceiving no doubt that the larger insects frequent these openings for facility of movement through the jungle; and that the smaller ones are carried towards them by currents of air.  Their nets are stretched across the path from four to eight feet above the ground, suspended from projecting shoots, and attached, if possible, to thorny shrubs; and they sometimes exhibit the most remarkable scenes of carnage and destruction.  I have taken down a ball as large as a man’s head consisting of successive layers rolled together, in the heart of which was the original den of the family, whilst the envelope was formed, sheet after sheet, by coils of the old web filled with the wings and limbs of insects of all descriptions, from large moths and butterflies to mosquitoes and minute coleoptera.  Each layer appeared to have been originally hung across the passage to intercept the expected prey; and, when it had become surcharged with carcases, to have been loosened, tossed over by the wind or its own weight, and wrapped round the nucleus in the centre, the spider replacing it by a fresh sheet, to be in turn detached and added to the mass within.

[Illustration:  Spider]

Separated by marked peculiarities both of structure and instinct, from the spiders which live in the open air, and busy themselves in providing food during the day, the Mygale fasciata is not only sluggish in its habits, but disgusting in its form and dimensions.  Its colour is a gloomy brown, interrupted by irregular blotches and faint bands (whence its trivial name); it is sparingly sprinkled with hairs, and its limbs, when expanded, stretch over an area of six to eight inches in diameter.  It is familiar to Europeans in Ceylon, who have given it the name, and ascribed to it the fabulous propensities, of the Tarentula.[1]

[Footnote 1:  Species of the true Tarentula are not uncommon in Ceylon; they are all of very small size, and perfectly harmless.]

The Mygale is found abundantly in the northern and eastern parts of the island, and occasionally in dark unfrequented apartments in the western province; but its inclinations are solitary, and it shuns the busy traffic of towns.

The largest specimens I have seen were at Gampola in the vicinity of Kandy, and one taken in the store-room of the rest-house there, nearly covered with its legs an ordinary-sized breakfast plate.[1]

[Footnote 1:  See Plate opposite.]

This hideous creature does not weave a broad web or spin a net like other spiders, but nevertheless it forms a comfortable mansion in the wall of a neglected building, the hollow of a tree, or under the eave of an overhanging stone.  This it lines throughout with a tapestry of silk of a tubular form; and of a texture so exquisitely fine and closely woven, that no moisture can penetrate it.  The extremity of the tube is carried out to the entrance, where it expands into a little platform, stayed by braces to the nearest objects that afford a firm hold.  In particular situations, where the entrance is exposed to the wind, the mygale, on the approach of the monsoon, extends the strong tissue above it so as to serve as an awning to prevent the access of rain.