PULMONARIA. 



457 



of which, in a state of repose, occupy a circular space of six or seven inches in diameter, and [are asserted] to 

 seize Humming-birds. They form their nests in the slits of trees, beneath the bark, in the cavities of stones and 

 rocks, or on the surface of leaves of various vegetables. The cell of the M. avicularia is in the shape of a tube, nar- 

 rowed into a point at its posterior extremity. It is composed of a white web of very fine texture, semitransparent, 

 like muslin. M. Goudot gave me a nest which was about seven or eight inches long, and about two inches broad. 

 The cocoon of this species had the size and shape of a large nut. Its envelope, formed of the same materials as 

 the nest, consists of three layers. It appears that the young are there hatched, and undergo their first moulting;. 

 This naturalist informs me that he has obtained as many as a hundred young ones from one cocoon. (See my 

 memoir on the habits of the Mygale avicularia, Lin., in those of the 31 us. d'HUt. Nat., torn. vii. p. 456.) The 

 body of this species is about an inch and a half long, black, and very hairy, with the tips of the palpi, legs, &c, 

 reddish. 



South America and the Antilles also furnish other species, which are known to the French colonists under the 

 name of Spider-Crabs, and of which the bite is reputed very dangerous. There is also a large East Indian species 

 (M. fasciata, Seba) ; and a species is brought from the Cape of Good Hope, nearly as large as J/, avicularia. 

 Another species (31. Valentino) has been discovered in the arid deserts of Moxenta, in Spain, by If. Dufour; and 

 another, from the same country, has been described by Walckenaer (31. calpeiana). These two species form a 

 particular group, having the ungues exposed. (See further our articles on this and the allied genera in the Nouv. 

 Diction. (Vlli.st. Nat., second edition.) 



The other species of Mygale (forming the genus Cteniza, Latr., in Fam. Nat.) have a transverse row of move- 

 able corneous spines at the superior extremity of the basal joint of the chelicera. The tarsi are less hairy' beneath 

 than in the preceding, and their ungues are always exposed. They construct, in dry shelving situations exposed 

 to the sun, in the southern parts of Europe, &c, subterranean cylindrical galleries, often two feet deep, and so 

 tortuous that the traces of them are often lost. They moreover construct, at the entrance, a moveable lid formed 

 of silk and earth, fixed by a hinge, and which, by its precise size, inclination, and weight, closely shuts the open- 

 ing, scarcely so as to permit the place of the nest to be distinguished from the neighbouring soil. The inner surface 

 of the lid is lined with silk, which enables the animal to hold it down, and prevent its being pulled open. When 

 taken by violence from its nest, the Mygale is stupid, and otters no resistance. A silken tube, forming the nest, 

 lines the interior of the gallery. M. Dufour is of opinion that the males do not make these burrows, being gene- 

 rally found under stones, and appearing less favoured with organs fitted for those works. We presume, with 

 M. Dufour, that our 31. carminant is only the male of -i/. uementaria, Latr., although M. Walckenaer is of a dif- 

 ferent opinion. The latter species, described by Saw ages under the name of the Mason-Spider (Hut. de I'Acad. 

 det Scienc, 1758), and by Dorthes under that of the Mining-Spider (Zrtnn. Trans,, vol. ii. 17, 18), is about two-thirds 

 of an inch long, and is found in the southern departments of France, Spain, &c. Another species [M. fodiens, 



Walck., M. Sauvageeii, Duf., Rossi), is rather larger than the preceding, and 

 inhabits Tuscany and Corsica. The Museum d'Histoire Naturelle possesses 

 a block of earth in which four of its nests are arranged in a regular square. 

 [M. V. Audouin has published a long account of these nests in the Annates de 

 la Societi Entomologique de France.] M. Lefebvre has also brought another 

 distinct species from Sicily, and another is found in Jamaica, (31. nidularu), 

 which, together with its nest, has been figured by Brown in his Natural 

 History of that island, pL 44, f. 3. 



[It is to Madame Mcrian that we owe the origin of the story that the large 

 American Mygale attacks and kills small birds; this lady, in her splendid 

 work on the insects of Surinam, not only asserting this, but figuring the 

 Spider in the act of feeding on a Humming-bird which it bad dragged off us 

 Dl -1. Hence originated the idea that the Mygale spun the webs which are 

 met with in tropical climates, of suilicicnt force to hold small bird-., ii | 

 which are the production of a species of Bpeira, Mr. MacLeay, in the 

 first volume of the Traneactiont 0/ the Zoological Society, has attacked 

 violence, giving her credit for all that subsequent compilers chose to 

 did not assert that the Mygale forms these nebs, nor is such the case, 

 for that spider lives in holes under ground, and in all its movements keeps closi to the earth, its I 

 consiting of lull, subterranean Crickets, and Cockroaches. On a living Humming-bird being placed into its 

 bole by Mr. MacLeay, the Spider even quitted it ; whence be disbelieves the existence ofani bud catching Spider; 

 bin \i. MoreaudeJonni i expressly mentions that it climbs the branches of trees to devour the young of Elumm 

 birds. &c. Utieiiie published an elaborate memoir upon this genus in the Nouvelle* Annala &% Mutetm, voL I., 

 and more recently M. Walckenaer has described thirty-sis species of this genus in ins HUtoire Naturell* 

 Inteclet Aptirei. 



The .i/.;;o/i//.ni.v, which Is 8Uffldentl] abundant in the West Indian islands, has been flgUl Bd, together with its nest, 



by Mr. Kirby in ins Bridgewater Treatise, [t is also figured In Griffith's translation of the Regno Animal, but 

 regarded as an ondescribed spa ies, named .v. nitida. Mr. Si Us bai commnnicati d »omi bservationa on* 



it and its nest to the Entomological Society of London.] 



Xho ! (of Theraphotet) which have the palpi inserted on an Inferior dilatation on the outside of the 



maxilla-, and S-jointed ; the tongue very small in ltypus,bul which becomes longer and advanced between the 

 maxilla in the following genera, which is its general charai tor \ the last joint of the palpi la both sexes long and 



Fig. 38.— Mygale fodiens. 



this lady's writings with great 

 to her account. She, however, 



