ZOOLOGY. 35 



Such is the ferocity indeed of the female spider, that she has been known to 

 seize and devom- the male in the act of makinu; his loving overtures to her ; and after 

 their brief union, nothing but flight and the utmost address on his part saves the 

 male from being devoui'cd by his heartless consort. This is an extreme instance of 

 the economy of nature, though a partially similar practice of ' maricide ' rules among 

 ■ the social hymenoptera. 



Family Mygalidse. 



Dr. Mason says, " A large, black, hairy spider, with tusks like a centipede, and 

 very poisonous, is occasionally seen. The Karens call it the bear-spider. It is of the 

 genus Mygale, famous for the questionable habit of devouring birds ; but the natives 

 say that it kills cobras and other large snakes, and cats their brains." 



(Jobracidal spiders have certainly no existence, but that large spiders can kill and 

 suck the juices of small helpless birds or mammals I (piite lielieve. 



Order PHALANGIDEA. 



These animals differ from spiders in possessing neither poison glands nor spinning 

 apparatus. Eyes two only. Many species are higlily gregarious, congregating 

 together in masses. 



Order rHRYNIDEA. 



This order embraces two families : Phrynidcc, with a rounded abdomen and the 

 maxillary palpi with a single claw; and Thehiphoiiidie, with the abdomen terminating 

 iu a jointed setiform appendage, and the maxillary paliii didactyluus or clawed. They 

 are slender-legged, active creatures, and despite their somewhat repulsive appearance, 

 quite hai'mless. 



Family Thelyphonidae, 



Stoliczka gives the following species in his paper in the J. As. Soe. Bengal, 1873, 

 Part II. p. 126, and |)oints out how nearly the range in India of TJielyphonus cor- 

 responds with that of the Passalida, and is coniined to those portions of the fouutry 

 marked by a strong Malayan infusion. 



TuELYrnoNTs scABRiNus, Stol. Sikkim. Assam. Khasi hills. 



,, ASSAiTENSis, Stol. Sikkim. Assam. 



,, ANGUSTUS, Lucas. Sikkim. Martaban. I'inang. 



,, FORJiosus, Butler. Martaban. 



,, rN'Dictrs, Stol. South India. Bengal. Johore. 



Order SOLIFUGIDEA. 



Abdomen segmented, distinct from the cephalothorax, palpi filiform. Eyes two 

 only. Mandibles large and powerful, but without a poison gland. 



To this order belongs the repulsive Galeoden, a spider-like animal, covered with 

 hair, which harboiu-s under stones. These animals can he domesticated, and when 

 caged will devour raw beef greedily, but they are too savage and repulsive to become 

 general favourites. 



Order PEXTASTOMIDEA. 



This degraded order has but one genus, Pentasfnma — a worm-like cntozoic 

 parasite, but in the larval stage possessing four legs. The sexes are distinct. The 

 asexual young, analogous to the ' scolex ' of the ' Cestoda,' is found in the lungs 

 and livers of herbivorous mammals and reptiles, and the perfect adult becomes 

 developed in the lungs and respiratory passages of carnivorous mammals and reptiles. 

 The lungs of large snakes are commonly infosttd by these creatures, which firmly 

 attach themselves by four cephalic hooks, which they bury in the tissues of their host, 

 allowing theii- bodies to dangle in the respiratory cavity. 



