180 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



visit to the Canary Islands, which, in common with the 

 former, was undertaken in the hopes of adding somewhat to 

 our knowledge of the limits of the old continent of Atlantis, 

 I, in company with my brother, made some little stay in the 

 Island of HieVro. Here our coleopterous pursuits were soon 

 checked by the solemn warnings we received as to the dan- 

 gers we incurred from the bite of a certain huge, black, lethi- 

 ferous spider, Lalrodeclus malraignatus, var. (as I am kindly 

 informed by J. Blackwall, Esq.), which, lying beneath stones 

 and rubbish, inflicted on the unwary a bite, which, besides 

 causing great pain and tumefaction in the wounded limb, 

 generally caused the death of the sufferer, unless relieved by 

 timely and internal doses of human excrement : this was 

 attested by the doctor, padre, and principal inhabitants of 

 the place, who also found the creature for us,, and stirred 

 him up discreetly with a long stick. But so great was the 

 contempt induced by familiarity that we could not be re- 

 strained from picking up the deadly monster, which, though 

 tortured in the way presumed most provoking to a spider, 

 persisted in collecting his legs, after the fashion of spiders 

 in general, and lying inert in our hands. The magnates held 

 a discussion, and determined that they had not got the right 

 animal, and next day we were told that the real monster 

 awaited us, and also that a live audience had collected. This 

 announcement, coupled with the stories of misadventure with 

 which we had been regaled, and the fact that we had no am- 

 monia, nor much predilection for the ammoniacal wrecks of 

 humanity suggested as an alternative, made us feel a little 

 nervous. However, we faced the inevitable. Two cabbage- 

 leaves were produced, tied with string, which we were recom- 

 mended not to unfasten : we were assured that it was folly to 

 tempt fate, and that it would end in our being imprisoned 

 and suffering in the Island for at least a fortnight. We un- 

 tied the bag, and another specimen of the same spider, only 

 somewhat larger (covering, legs and all, about one square 

 inch) emerged, and proved as innocuous as its predecessor. 

 However, there can be little doubt that the Latrodecti can 

 inflict a painful bite at least, though, like the Tarantula, this 

 has been the subject of great exaggeration. — W. D. Crotch ; 

 Uphill House, Weston-supei'-Mare. 



K. NEWmAN, TEINTEE, DEVONSHIRE STREET, BISHOPSGA.TE. 



