•^54 DAVKNPORT ACADEMY OK NATURAL SCIENCES. 



From Guanajuato, Mexico, Dr. Eugene Duges writes as follows: 

 "•Here there is a Glifvuf which the vulgar call (ii'/iisaro. and make 

 out to he exeessivf'ly venomous, which it is not the least in the 

 world.'" 



Dr. Edward Palmei' speaking- of the specimens collected i)y him 

 in Mexico, says: "• The SolpiKjn marked San Louis Potosi was run- 

 ning in a garden, the one fiom Bledos was taken out of my bed at 

 night, while the other wns found under a piece of volcanic rock." 



Dr. R. A. Phillippi writing from Santiago, Chili, and speaking of 

 the two species described by Gervais {(\ morfiictnix and M. vaHe- 

 i/ata) says: "They are veiy common in the streets of Santiago, run- 

 ning with great swiftness in the sun, so that they aie called ' aranas 

 del sol,' (spiders of the sun); tiieir bite is said to be very painful, but 

 I know of no personal experience of my friends or my own, unless 

 one case when a young daughter of mine having been bitten in a 

 finger, experienced severe pain, fever, and had the whole fore-arm 

 swollen for two days, but 1 do not know whethei' she was bitten by 

 a Galeadrti or by Lath rodf (■(('■•< form lilalnlis.''^ 



The above extracts contain about all that is known i-eg;ar(ling the 

 habits of the American Sol inigidn'. There is, howevei-, good reason 

 to infer that like those old world species whose habits are known, 

 they are carnivorous — seizing, crushing and sucking the juice of 

 other animals, not even exempting their own species. Regarding 

 their mode of repi-orluction little is known; eggs of a peculiar form 

 have been found in the ovaries and the young-cst forms oliserved are 

 not different fioni the adults. 



An excellent resume of what is known of the habits of the old 

 world species is given by Gervais in " Insectes Apteres,'' Tomes II, 

 III, and ])ufour in his "Hist. Nat. des Galeodes", gives a veiy in- 

 teresting chaptei' on the habits of the Algerian species as reported 

 to liim l)y his correspondents. From this it ap})ears that (jaleodex 

 barbanis is diurnal in its habits, and that it not only seeks its prey- 

 on the level grouiui but also climbs up plants and shridis. Its bite 

 is said to be ])oisonous, causing a severe swidling and twitchings in 

 the limb affected. The Arabs call the (ridiodcs " akreb-errih'" or 

 " rolnd sr<)rpio)i^\ Olivier who has traveled in the deserts of Arabia 

 and Mesopotamia, where he encomitered many (rrdtodes, says thev 

 hide themselves in the day and only sally forth at night. 



r have received an interesting letter from Mr. Roland Trimen, of 

 Cape Town, in which he speaks as follows concerning the habits of 

 South African species: "The small striped species runs with im- 



