thers
form artistic tunnels under the earth, and some build their dens in the
thatch of houses. Bates one day saw some Indian children with one of
these monsters secured by a cord round its waist, by which they were
leading it about the house as they would a dog. The hairs with which it
is covered come off when touched, and cause a peculiar and almost
maddening irritation. This is, however, probably owing to their being
short and hard, and thus getting into the fine creases of the skin, and
not to any poisonous quality residing in the hairs. These monstrous
spiders prey on lizards, small birds, and other diminutive vertebrates.
Their muscular power is very great. When the creature is about to seize
its prey, it fixes its hind-feet firmly in the ground, and lifting up
the front ones, darts them forward, and fastens them with the double
hooks which terminate its feet between the cranium and the first
vertebra, thus preventing the possibility of their escaping. Nothing
will then tear it from its prey. When pressed by hunger, it climbs at
night the trees and shrubs in which humming-birds and other small birds
are perched, or have built their nests, and springing on them, grasps
them with its powerful claws. It seizes the anolis, a kind of
water-lizard, in the same way. The fact of its seizing on birds, so
long doubted, though asserted by Madame Marian, the French naturalist,
has been corroborated by Monsieur Jonnes, her countryman. He states
that it spins no web to serve it as a dwelling, but burrows and lies in
ambush in the cliffs and hollow ravines. It often travels to a
considerable distance, and conceals itself under leaves, thence to dart
out on its prey; or it climbs along the branches of trees to surprise
the humming-birds and other small tree-creepers. Bates still further
settles the point.

With regard to the habits of another species which does spin a web, he
says that, catching sight of one of these spiders, he was attracted by
its movements. It was in the crevices of a tree, across which was
stretched a dense web. The lower portion of the web was broken, and two
small birds,--finches,--were entangled in the pieces. They were the
size of the English linnet, and probably male and female. One was quite
dead, the other lay dying under the body of the spider, and was smeared
with the filthy liquor or saliva exuded by the monster.

The mygale carries its eggs enclosed in a cocoon of white silk of a v