ANIMALS OF THE ORDER* ARANEIDEA. 33 



feed freely on the flies introduced to it. The thermometer, at the time the experiment was 

 made, indicated a temperature of 74°. 



In a hostile encounter between two female spiders of the species Segestria senoculata, 

 on the 29th of July 1846, one of them was pierced by the fangs of her opponent on the 

 under side of the abdomen, near the spinners. A transparent colourless fluid oozed from 

 the wounds for many minutes, and ultimately coagulated ; but the spider seemed to expe- 

 rience little inconvenience from the injury, being lively in its motions and preying eagerly 

 upon the insects with which it was supplied. The temperature at the time was 76°, and 

 the atmosphere was highly electrical. 



A female Ciniflo atrox was bitten by an exasperated female Lycosa agretyca near the 

 middle of the cephalo-thorax, on the 29th of July 1846, the temperature by the thermo- 

 meter being 76°. The Lycosa retained its hold for many seconds, and on quitting it volun- 

 tarily a transparent colourless fluid flowed from the punctures and coagulated. The 

 wounded spider, apparently regardless of the injury it had received, spun a web with 

 which it long continued to ensnare its victims. 



On the same day, the mercury in the thermometer denoting a temperature of 75°, a 

 female Epeira diadema, in a violent struggle with a female Ccelotes saxatilis, pierced her 

 abdomen in the medial line of the dorsal region, about a third of its length from the 

 spinners. The wounded spider did not exhibit any marked symptoms of distress and 

 speedily resumed its accustomed habits. 



In an attack made by a female Ciniflo ferox upon a female Lycosa agretyca, on the 

 30th of July 1846, the temperature being 74°, the latter was wounded by the fangs of its 

 assailant at the base of the coxa of the left posterior leg, and a transparent fluid, which 

 soon coagulated, issued from the injured part. Nothing occurred afterwards to indicate 

 that the Lycosa had suffered from the encounter. 



Two female spiders of the species Epeira diadema engaged in a severe contest on the 

 30th of July 1846, the thermometer standing at 73°, when one of them was seized by the 

 fangs of her antagonist near the middle of the right side of the abdomen. A brown fluid 

 flowed from the punctures and soon coagulated, but the spider appeared to be only slightly 

 and very briefly affected by the injury. 



A female Epeira diadema, in a highly excited state, bit itself near the middle of the 

 femur of the left anterior leg, on the 5th of September 1846. The temperature at the 

 time was 69°, and a transparent fluid flowed copiously from the wounded part ; coagula- 

 tion, however, quickly ensued, after which the spider manifested no unfavourable symptom 

 whatever. 



Extensive mechanical injuries commonly prove fatal to spiders, whether received in 

 conflicts with their congeners or otherwise, the extinction of life being more or less rapid 

 in proportion to the vitality of the part lacerated ; but no evidence supplied by the fore- 

 going experiments indicates that the fluid emitted from the orifice in the fangs of the 

 Araneidea possesses a property destructive to the existence of animals of that order when 

 transmitted into a recent wound ; in short, it does not appear to exercise any greater de- 

 gree of influence upon them than it does upon the human species. 



I now proceed to show how insects are affected when pierced by the fangs of spiders. 

 VOL. xxi. p 



