Captain T. Hutton^s observations on Galeodes vorax. 83 



hoping to make her forget her good behaviour, but all in vain ; 

 for though she bit and pulled at the straws in evident anger, not 

 once did she turn upon her offspring, although crowding round 

 and crawling over her very body. I then threw in some beetles 

 and flies, upon which she vented her fury by speedily devouring 

 them, and I thought by this means to play her a trick. Accord- 

 ingly I withdi'ew two or three of the young ones from the cave, 

 and threw in alternately a beetle and a young Galeodes, thinking 

 to deceive the parent, and make her, in the blindness of her fury, 

 commit infanticide. But nature was not to be thus deceived : the 

 unfortunate beetles were instantly seized and devoured, but the 

 mother knew her offspring, and drew them into the den without 

 the slightest injury ; the beetles were gathered into her jaws, 

 but her own offspring were merely seized between the anterior 

 palpi, and allowed to pass unhurt. 



This whole family, much to my regret, effected their escape 

 from the vessel in which I kept them, which, being of glass and 

 deep-sided, I thought sufficiently secure, and therefore left un- 

 covered. 



The Galeodes, however, being furnished with a retractile sucker 

 at the ends of the anterior palpi, had contrived to crawl up the 

 side of the glass and make their escape. I succeeded more than 

 a month afterwards in recapturing the old one in the same room, 

 but her offspring I never again saw. 



This species is extremely voracious, feeding at night upon 

 beetles, flies, and even large lizards, and sometimes gorging itself 

 to such a degree as to render it almost unable to move. 



A lizard three inches long, exclusive of tail, was entirely de- 

 voured ; the spider sprung at it, and made a seizure immediately 

 behind the shoulder, never quitting its hold until the whole was 

 consumed. The poor lizard struggled violently at first, rolling 

 over and over in its agony, but the spider kept firm hold, and 

 gradually sawed away with its double jaws into the very entrails 

 of its victim. The only parts uneaten were the jaws and part of 

 the skin, although the lizard was at least five inches long from 

 nose to extremity of tail. After this meal the spider remained 

 gorged and motionless for about a fortnight, being much swollen 

 and distended. 



A young sparrow, about half-grown, was placed under a bell- 

 glass with a Galeodes ; the moment the luckless bird moved the 

 spider seized him by the thigh, which he speedily sawed off, in 

 spite of the sparrow's fluttering, and then, as the poor bird con- 

 tinued to "struggle in pain, the savage seized him by the throat 

 and soon put an end to his sufferings by cutting off the head. 

 It did not, however, devour the bird nor any part of it, but seemed 

 satisfied with having killed it. 



GS 



