376 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF 



[1887. 



by giving a generous supply of living food during the summer and 

 early autumn, and withholding food almost entirely during the 

 remainder of the year. I was particular, however, to keep a vessel 

 continually supplied with fresh water within the box. Spiders 

 re(juire water quite as much as other animals, and failure to keep 

 them supplied will be fatal to health and life. I have sometimes 

 succeeded in tempting a tarantula to suck the juice of a bit of raw 

 beef, but the only food that can be relied upon is living insects; and 

 the spiders appear to be able to lay up within the four or five months 

 of summer enough nourishment, in connection with a free supply of 

 water, to last them during the entire year. They do not become 

 torpid in the winter time, it should be said, but remain active 

 throughout the entire season, provided they are kept in a room 

 heated to a moderate temperature. If exposed to severe cold they 

 are soon benumbed, but quickly recover when again brought into a 

 warm atmosphere. 



When the spider was disposed to feed, an insect was seized with 

 the fore legs, palps and mandibles, which rapidly conveyed it to the 

 mouth against which it was held by the palps which also turned the 

 carcass as the spider had occasion, aided by the mandibles, the 

 latter crushing the victim meanwhile. (Fig. 2). On one occasion 





Tarantula feeding upon a locust. The white Silken rug shown. 



