THE ANNALS 



AND 



MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



No. 75. AUGUST 1843. 



IX. — Observations on the Habits of a large species of Galeodes. 

 By Captain Thomas Hutton *. 



In the 52nd and 53rd Numbers of the 'Annals and Magazine of 

 Natural History^ are two letters from Messrs. W. S. MacLeay and 

 W. E. Shuckard^ relating to the occasional capture of small birds 

 by certain species of Arachnids ; and as the subject is one of some 

 interest, I take the liberty of presenting you with a note long 

 since made by me, on the habits of a large species of Galeodes 

 common to some parts of India, and for which, if undescribed^ I 

 would propose the name of '^ Galeodes vorax" 



My first observations on this species were made in 1832 at 

 Mirzapore, where it is very abundant and of large size. During 

 the rainy season it was my constant habit, on a fine evening, to 

 spread a sheet upon the ground near my house, upon which was 

 placed a small lantern to attract insects. 



In a very short time, two or three of these ravenous spiders 

 would make their appearance at the edge of the sheet, but at a 

 respectful distance from each other, and no sooner did a moth, or 

 a beetle, or a cricket alight upon it, than it was snapped up and 

 devoured before I could lay hold of it. There seemed indeed to 

 be no end to the appetite of these creatures, for they continued to 

 seize and devom' everything indiscriminately that came within 

 their reach, even to large and hard-winged beetles, cutting them 

 to pieces with their powerful jaws with the greatest ease. Many 

 were the deadly fights I witnessed among these marauders as 

 they trespassed upon each other^s beats to get possession of some 

 newly alighted prey, and often was I obliged to kill them in order 

 that I too might in turn obtain some share of the booty. This 

 species is, strictly speaking, nocturnal, though I have sometimes 

 seen them active in the daytime ; they live beneath stones and 

 in holes in the ground, and never construct a net or other trap for 

 their prey, seizing everything by main force as they roam about 

 in search of food. 



Again I fell in with this species abundantly at Neemuch, where 



* From the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, No. 45. 

 Ann, ^ Mag, N, Hist, Vol. xii. G 



