68 SPIDERS [CH. 



requirements. Nature does not, as a rule, play 

 extravagant pranks, such as interchanging cocoons 

 or substituting for them pith balls and leaden pellets. 

 The famous Tarantula is a wolf-spider, though 

 in America, unfortunately, the name has been quite 

 wrongly applied to the members of an entirely 

 different group. Everyone has heard of its deadly 

 repute, and of the myth that its bite can only be 

 cured by the wild tarantula dance or tarantella. It 

 is one of the large Lycosids of southern Europe. 

 These, as we have said, are much less nomadic than 

 the smaller species, but have a permanent home, 

 from which they do not wander far afield. They 

 prefer waste, arid places, and their burrows are 

 simple cylindrical tubes with the upper portion lined 

 by silk, the mouth being often surmounted by a sort 

 of rampart of particles of soil mingled with small 

 pieces of wood collected in the neighbourhood. The 

 spider lurks in the mouth of the tube Avhere its 

 glistening eyes can be distinctly seen. If an insect 

 ventures near it rushes out and secures it ; if alarmed, 

 it retreats instantlv to the bottom of the burrow. 



V 



That most fascinating of all entomological writers, 

 J. H. Fabre, made some observations on a tarantula 

 of southern France which well deserve attention. 

 Colonies of the spider were numerous in his neigh- 

 bourhood, and he set himself to procure some 

 specimens. Old writers assert that if a straw be 



