"And what is that but a bug?" replied Alice.
"It's a spider," said Charlie. "You ask Uncle Harry if it isn't."
In the mean time Tom and Alice had taken the jar over to the desk where Uncle Harry was writing.
"What is this, Uncle Harry?" said Alice.
"It is a tarantula. I brought it home from California with me."
"I told you so!" exclaimed Charlie, from the closet.
"It is a kind of spider, and one of the largest that lives in this country. They don't make webs like ordinary spiders, but dig a hole in the ground and line it with a sort of silky web like the cocoon of a silk-worm. Their hole is about six inches deep, and is closed by a funny little trap-door made of the same silky lining, and covered on the outside with sticks and gravel so cleverly that one can rarely find a tarantula's burrow unless you see him going in; and even if you do see him going in, it is very difficult to get him to come out, as he pulls his trap-door shut after him, and holds it tight from the inside."
"If he don't build a web, how does he catch flies and things?" inquired Charlie.
"He jumps after them. A lively tarantula can jump from three to five feet, and when he once catches hold of any kind of a bug or small bird with those great hairy legs, it has but little chance to get away."
"Is their bite really so poisonous?" asked Alice, eying the jar rather timidly, as if she was afraid the terrible insect would get away.