Rocky Hyatt, age 13, of Swannanoa, North Carolina, for his question:

What exactly is a trapdoor spider?

There are at least 30,000 spider species, each with a fascinating life style of its own. Most, but not all, species spin silken threads and many weave fantastic structures for various usual and unusual purposes. Therefore, the trapdoor spider should not surprise us. She constructs an intricate trapdoor as a special feature to protect her somewhat unusual underground life style.

We refer to trapdoor spiders as female because, like most of her kinfolk, she usually devours her husband early in their relationship. In any case, her cunning trapdoor is a protective item related to her~system of child care    a family responsibility in which the male spider has no interest whatsoever. Mrs. T. Spider constructs herself a very cozy burrow in the ground with this trapdoor at the top. This is her permanent address, the home in which she tenderly provides for her spiderlings and educates at least the girls to build their own trapdoor homes for the future.

She is a largish, dark colored spider with the usual eight dexterous legs capable of performing a variety of skillful and artistic activities. Her tail end has a battery of spinnerets capable of spinning silken threads of various qualities for different purposes. The burrow she excavates is about an inch wide and six inches or so deep. She cushions its rough walls with layers of soft silken webbing and bevels her circular doorstep to slope slightly downward.

The trapdoor that seals this opening is a masterpiece. She creates a round flat structure of webbed and woven silken threads, just large enough to fit her doorway to the outside world. She sets it in place, tests the fit and then, of all things, she weaves a hinge of silken threads to attach one side of the trapdoor to the opening. One would think such a triumph of craftmanship is enough. But the cunning little spider also sprinkles crumbs of dirt on top of her trapdoor    to disguise it from the prying eyes of certain suspicious characters on the outside.

Naturally this talented artist arranges things so that she can open and close her exquisite trapdoor from inside her silk lined burrow. She tends to be a stay¬at home, either resting or tending to her busy child care duties. Her cautious excursions outdoors are limited to forages for food. Once outside, she is very fast on her spidery legs and catching enough insects to feed herself and her spiderlings is no problem worth mentioning. A real problem, however, exists in the parasitic wasp who lurks outside waiting to prey upon the trapdoor spider.

Some people claim that the trapdoor spider makes a fascinating pet, though she requires very specially adapted quarters set up in the safety of a burrow proof container, such as a securely walled terrarium. She also requires, of course, a steady supply of live insect meat. Her spiderlings, if any, can be expected to stay indoors under their mother's care for about eight months. With proper attention, a pet trapdoor spider may live as long as seven years, considerably longer than she can in the wilds.