creatures that elaborate them.

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 t