PULMONARY 287 



brush, projrc -ting beyond the hooks, and usually concealing them. 

 The male organs of generation consist of a single scaly piece, termi- 

 nated by an entire point, or neither emarginated nor divided ; some- 

 times it is formed like an ear-pick M. dela Blond, Lat. usually, 

 however, it is globular inferiorly, then becomes narrow, terminates in 

 a point, and forms a kind of arcuated hook. 



This division is composed of the largest species of the family, some 

 of which, when at rest, cover a circular space of from six to seven 

 inches in 'diameter; they sometimes seize upon Humming-birds. They 

 establish their domicile in the clefts of trees, under the bark, in the 

 fissures of rocks, or on the surface of leaves of various plants. The 

 cell of the Mygale avicularia has the form of a tube, narrowed into 

 a point at its posterior extremity. It consists of a white web, of a 

 close, very fine texture, semi-diaphanous, and resembling muslin. 

 One of them, presented to me by M. Goudot, when unrolled, was 

 about two decimetres in length, and six centimetres in breadth, mea- 

 sured across its greatest transversal diameter, The cocoon of the 

 same species was of the figure and size of a large walnut. Its enve- 

 lope, consisting of the* same material as that of its domicile, was formed 

 of three layers. It appears that the young are hatched in it, and 

 undergo their first change of tegument there. The naturalist just 

 mentioned stated to me, that he had taken a hundred of them from 

 a single cocoon*. 



This Mygale Aranea avicularia, L. ; Kleem. Insect, XI, and 

 XII, the male is about an inch and a half long, blackish, and 

 extremely hairy ; the extremity of the feet and palpi, and the in- 

 ferior pili of the mouth reddish. The genital organ of the male 

 is hollow at base, and terminates in an elongated and very acute 

 point. 



South America and the Antilles produce other species, called 

 by the French colonists Araignees-crabes. Their bite is reputed 

 to be dangerous. A very large species M. fasciata ; Seb., 

 Mus., I, Ixix, i ; Walck., Hist, of Spiders, IV, i, the female is 

 also found in the East Indies. A species, nearly as large as the 

 avicularia, inhabits the Cape of Good Hope. Another of the 

 same division M. Valentino, was discovered in the sandy and 

 desert districts of Moxenta, in Spain, by M. Dufour, who has 

 described and figured it in the Ann. of the Phys. Sciences, Brus- 

 sels, Vol. V. Walckenaer has also described a second species 

 from that peninsula which has two prominences above its respi- 

 ratory organs. These two latter species form a particular group, 

 characterized by the hooks of the tarsi, which are salient or 

 exposed f . 



In the following Mygales J, the superior extremity of the first 



* See my memoir on the habits of the Avicularia in the ADD. du Mils. d'Hist. 

 Nat. VIII, p. 456. 



t For detail* concerning these and the following species, as well as for the other 

 genera of this family, see the corresponding articles in the Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., 

 where we treat of them at length. 



J The genus CTBNIZA, Lnt., Fam. Nat. du Rgne Animal. 



