Ot'scrvatiojis on some Insects Utile known. 67 



Laxman's aranea Sinsoriensis oua;ht~not to be considered as 



7 1 1 • < 



a variety of the aranea taravhi/a, but rather as a vanet}^ oi: 

 Lepechui's spider, or as a particular species. Whether the 

 large red pair of eyes be really eyes, still remains a problem 

 ■which deserves to be an object of future research to natura- 

 lists ; and the qviestion, whether the proper tarantula {ara- 

 ?iea tarantula auctorum) be found in the southern parts of 

 Russia, requires further proof before it can be answered in 

 the affirmativi'. 



In A P^oyage to Madeira and the Leeward Canlean 

 Islands, by a ladv, London 1792, 8vo. mention is made also 

 of a tarantula, which, according to every probability, is 

 nothing else than the aranea clavlpes, or a large American 

 kind of earth spider. It does not appear to be the aranea 

 avicularia, at least according to the description of it, which 

 is very defective, like all the descriptions of natural objects 

 found in books of travels written by ladies. There is reason, 

 however, to conjecture that it is not the real aranea taran- 

 tula, because this spider has never been found in the di- 

 stricts which the authoress visited. Of her spider she gives 

 the following account : — " A kind of tarantula is found in 

 Antigua in stony places and under old ruins. Its bite pro- 

 duces cbnvulsions with strangury, and sometimes proves 

 n)ortal. Music, however, produces no sensible elfect on those 

 bitten by it." It certainly is worth while to make some 

 further researches respecting this spider. 



In large collections there are generally found two varie- 

 ties of the American bird spider {aranea avicularia) ; a 

 larger than the common, which is dark brown, and a 

 smaller, of a bright cinnamon colour, a very beautiful spe- 

 cimen of which I saw in the collection of Mr. Ortman^ 

 apothecary of 1 laniburgh. The owner of it observed on the 

 inside of the first joint of the' fore-legs of some specimens a 

 small, black, corneous, sharp-pointed spur. Is it not pro-^ 

 bable that this spur is a distinguishing mark of sex, and 

 may not this mark be peculiar to the male ? These qucs^ 

 tions can be best answered by comparative oliscrvations. 



John Anffclo Ikunelli, in his description of the river of 

 the Amazons, in the Transactions of the Institute of Bo- 

 logna *, srives an account of an insect, which is so batlly 

 described that no entomologist can with certainty determine 

 to what genus it belona-s, Uiough it is probable that it be- 

 longs to the ajmullura of Fabnems : at any .rate I am ot 

 opinion tliat \vc shall not be far from tlie triSah if we eon- 



• Comm. dc Bononicns. Scitiit. et Ait. Iiutirv.t. ^tqrc .'Vcad. torn- vii. 

 i; 2 slduf 



